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Secret St. Petersburg, Florida Meeting Could Sanction Commercial Whaling

The commission, a global body of eighty-member nations, first adopted the ban in 1982 to prevent dwindling whale populations from becoming extinct. Now, just as some studies indicate certain whale species may be showing signs of recovery, whaling countries are eager to consider returning to commercial whaling.

IWC chairman William T. Hogarth, who also serves as the Dean of the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, is directing the closed-door meeting of the IWC Small Working Group.

"These closed-door meetings pose a grave risk to the future of the IWC and the whales it was established to protect," said Patrick R. Ramage, Global Whale Program Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) "Whales face more threats today than at any time in history and Americans from sea to shining sea want to see them protected. The last thing we need is a secret deal to re-open whaling. Dr. Hogarth should either open up the process for scrutiny, or simply cancel the meetings."

Japan,Norway, and Iceland Continue to Defy the Ban -- The Realities

Despite an international ban on whaling that has been in place for more than 25 years, commercial whaling still takes place inJapan,Norway, and Iceland. As a result, more than 30,000 whales have been killed for commercial purposes since 1986. Should the meeting compromise the whaling ban, those numbers will only increase.

Twenty-six IWC Member countries are expected to attend the meetings, including many that are expected to supportJapan's effort to overturn the ban. For the past 15 years,Japan has engaged in a "vote consolidation" strategy using fisheries aid to persuade countries to join the IWC and vote withJapan.

"The global ban on commercial whaling was one of the most important conservation victories of the last century," Ramage said. "IfJapan,Norway, andIceland, the last three countries engaged in commercial whaling are successful in their efforts to overturn the whaling ban, forty years of conservation efforts will go right down the drain."

For more information, http://www.stopwhaling.org

SOURCE International Fund for Animal Welfare