WWF Opposes Green Light For Commercial Whaling

The IWC has had a moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986 but Iceland and Norway have legal objections to the moratorium and Japan continues to conduct commercial whaling using a loophole in the IWC which allows whales to be killed for 'scientific purposes'.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in an effort to bring this whaling under IWC’s control, the Chair of the IWC has proposed to give these countries official commercial whaling quotas for the next 10 years.

"The proposed quotas are not set using the IWC's own scientific methods, but are a result of political bargaining which has little if anything to do with the whales’ themselves," said Wendy Elliott, Species Program manager, WWF-International. "Setting quotas for commercial whaling based on politics not science would be a step backwards for IWC."

If adopted the new proposal would legitimise commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, despite the IWC's absolute ban on commercial whaling in this area since 1994. The Southern Ocean is the main feeding ground of many whale species such as blue whales, humpback whales and fin whales.

Ms Elliott added: "The Southern Ocean is the whale equivalent of a restaurant or supermarket. Some whales feed exclusively in the Southern Ocean – not eating at all during the winter months when they travel up to tropical waters.

"If there is one place on earth where whales should have full protection, it is the Southern Ocean. Allowing commercial whaling in an area where whales are so vulnerable goes against all logic."

Furthermore, the IWC Chair has proposed commercial whaling quotas for whale species listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered.

Both fin whales and sei whales are endangered species, yet this proposal would allow the commercial killing of 65 fin whales in the Southern Ocean and 500 Sei whales in the North Pacific over a ten-year period, says WWF.

"Both fin and sei whale species were depleted to severely low levels by previous whaling that spun out of control, and remain endangered as a result. Allowing new commercial whaling on these species when they have yet to recover from previous whaling is management madness."

The sei whale in the North Pacific was reduced from 42,000 to just 8,600 by whaling in the late 20th Century, when 40,000 sei whales were killed. The extent to which this whale population has recovered is not clear. 725,000 fin whales were killed in the Southern Hemisphere in the twentieth century, and the most recent estimate puts numbers at just 15,178.

The positive aspects of the proposal include increased efforts to secure the recovery of depleted whale populations, action on critical conservation threats facing whales such as by-catch and climate change, and improved governance and compliance.

The members of the IWC will decide whether to adopt the proposal at its next annual meeting in Agadair, Morocco on 21 to 25 June 2010.

WWF calls on all countries attending the IWC meeting to put science and responsible management back at the forefront of IWC decision making.