IFAW: Commercial Whaling at Crossroads on Eve of IWC Meeting 6/10/2003
From: Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell of IFAW, 508-744-2076; E-mail: jfm@ifaw.org; Web: http://www.ifaw.org YARMOUTHPORT, Mass., June 10 -- On the eve of the 55th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to be held next week in Berlin, Germany, more than 40 conservation groups are joining key governments in a push to strengthen the commission's conservation mandate. Known as the Berlin Initiative, the new resolution to be introduced at next week's meeting is sponsored by Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, U.K., and the U.S. Fred O'Regan, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - http://www.ifaw.org) said the resolution offers the opportunity to, "move the International Whaling Commission into the 21st century. "We are proud to join with other leading groups, governments, and citizens worldwide in supporting the Berlin Initiative," he added. "This new resolution properly recognizes the conservation role of the IWC and also establishes a conservation committee and environmental research fund. "At its best, the IWC acts in the interest of the nations of the world to safeguard whales for future generations, and it has passed 100 conservation resolutions over the past 55 years," O'Regan said. "Despite this, Japan and Norway continue to hunt whales in the face of stiff international opposition and Iceland is now threatening to again take up the harpoon. "As the explosive growth of the whale watching industry demonstrates, the people of the world want to shoot whales with cameras, not harpoons," said O'Regan, referring to the more than 10 million people who go whale watching each year, fuelling a now $1.25 billion-dollar-a-year global whale watching industry. A joint statement released today by conservation groups supporting the Berlin Initiative notes that the IWC needs to protect whales which now face a complex array of threats including commercial whaling, toxic pollution, climate change, commercial fisheries by-catch, overfishing, ship strikes, ocean noise, and industrial development. Groups that signed on to the joint statement include the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Greenpeace, Humane Society International, Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society, and WWF as well as numerous national groups. ------ Note: For full text of the joint statement go to http://www.ifaw.org. The Full Commissioners Meeting of the International Whaling Commission is in Berlin, June 16-19. IFAW Experts will be in available for comment throughout the Berlin meeting. | |