WWF Position on Commercial Whaling

4/5/2002

From: Jan Vertefeuille of the World Wildlife Fund, 202-861-8362

WASHINGTON, April 5 -- In response to press reports this week resulting from comments by WWF-Japan, World Wildlife Fund today issued the following statement clarifying WWF's opposition to the resumption of large-scale commercial whaling and to any international trade in whale products. The following is the position of the entire WWF international network, including WWF-Japan, which has reaffirmed its support for this position:

WWF does not support commercial whaling. It backs the elimination of whaling as a threat to any species of whale and works globally for the conservation and recovery of populations of whales and other cetaceans. WWF campaigns to end uncontrolled commercial whaling and wants to see any whaling that is taking place put under rigorous international control, through the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

WWF believes there is no compelling social or scientific need that justifies the number of whales being hunted around the world today. The escalating commercial whaling going on right now, by both Japan and Norway, offers no credible benefit to whale conservation.

WWF also strongly supports maintaining the current ban on international trade in whale products (under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species) and the maintenance and extension of coastal and high seas whale sanctuaries.

This position is part of a broader effort to minimize human impacts on all cetaceans, whether from commercial exploitation, marine pollution, climate change, fisheries by-catch, or a growing array of other human caused threats.

Whaling and the IWC

Despite the global moratorium on commercial whaling put in place by the IWC in 1986, commercial whalers are still catching whales. The annual total has risen steadily and in 2002 will reach more than 1,300 whales from five different species. Japan continues to catch hundreds of whales (many in the Southern Ocean, which is designated as an IWC whale sanctuary) using a loophole for scientific research, while Norway pursues an openly commercial hunt under a legal "objection" to the moratorium. In addition, Japan is now planning to extend its scientific whaling to include Sei whales (officially listed as endangered by the IUCN).

Whaling and fishing

WWF believes there is no scientific case for Japan's position that whales are responsible for fish shortages. Human overfishing and poor fisheries management, in addition to climate change and other environmental factors, are the reason for fish shortages and the depletion of global fish stocks.