Saving the whale - IWC meets in Slovenia
- 8 years ago
What is happening?
More than 80 nations have gathered in Slovenia for the biennial meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
The IWC tries to balance national sovereignty, culture and subsistence rights with nature conservation and animal cruelty concerns.
Originally established as an international body for regulating sustainable whaling and monitoring whale stocks, the IWC started leaning towards conservation and nature protection in the 1970s and 1980s.
The meeting will run for five days and marks the 70th anniversary of the IWC’s founding.
It also coincides with the 30th anniversary of the whaling moratorium, which is estimated to have saved tens of thousands of whales.
Great intervention by India at #IWC66, all cetacean species in India have highest level of protection, fully support sanctuaries! pic.twitter.com/Jef244tVjV— Humane Society Int'l (@HSIGlobal) October 24, 2016
What is likely to be top of the agenda?
Japan’s return to whale hunting
Plans for a whale sanctuary
Among the main issues discussed will be Australia’s renewed efforts to bring more scrutiny to the process of scientific whaling permits.
These are issued by Japan to Japanese whalers in defiance of the moratorium.
Additionally, Brazil and several other South American and African countries are pushing for the establishment of a new whale sanctuary in the Atlantic.
Will the meeting go smoothly?
Unlikely.
The organisation’s 88 member nations are divided into pro- and anti-whaling camps.
Who are the main pro-whaling nations?
Japan
Iceland
Norway
Japan sets its own quotas for whale hunts it says are carried out for “scientific purposes”.
Norway and Iceland hunt carry out commercial whale hunting under legal loopholes.
Aboriginal whaling
Canada
Russia
Faroe Islands (Denmark)
Aboriginal whaling is carried out by countries with a tradition of doing it for subsistence purposes.
Japan
Although a 1986 moratorium was successful in greatly reducing the numbers of whales taken, Japan chose to defy the ban.
It routinely exploits a provision in the moratorium that allows whaling to be conducted for scientific purposes.
Because of this, Japanese whalers still kill hundreds of whales every year.
Many are in the southern ocean, which led Australia to take Japan to the International Court of Justice.
It ruled in 2014 that Japan’s whaling should cease.
In spite of the ruling, Japan continued with its whaling programme. This led Australia to propose a more stringent review of all existing permits.
Anti-whaling NGOs say Japan’s scientific whaling is a disguise. Others criticise the practice because it is carried out in the southern ocean. This has been declared a whale sanctuary and all whaling is prohibited.
Japan to face criticism at IWC for ignoring whaling ruling, comments by HSI's Kitty
More than 80 nations have gathered in Slovenia for the biennial meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
The IWC tries to balance national sovereignty, culture and subsistence rights with nature conservation and animal cruelty concerns.
Originally established as an international body for regulating sustainable whaling and monitoring whale stocks, the IWC started leaning towards conservation and nature protection in the 1970s and 1980s.
The meeting will run for five days and marks the 70th anniversary of the IWC’s founding.
It also coincides with the 30th anniversary of the whaling moratorium, which is estimated to have saved tens of thousands of whales.
Great intervention by India at #IWC66, all cetacean species in India have highest level of protection, fully support sanctuaries! pic.twitter.com/Jef244tVjV— Humane Society Int'l (@HSIGlobal) October 24, 2016
What is likely to be top of the agenda?
Japan’s return to whale hunting
Plans for a whale sanctuary
Among the main issues discussed will be Australia’s renewed efforts to bring more scrutiny to the process of scientific whaling permits.
These are issued by Japan to Japanese whalers in defiance of the moratorium.
Additionally, Brazil and several other South American and African countries are pushing for the establishment of a new whale sanctuary in the Atlantic.
Will the meeting go smoothly?
Unlikely.
The organisation’s 88 member nations are divided into pro- and anti-whaling camps.
Who are the main pro-whaling nations?
Japan
Iceland
Norway
Japan sets its own quotas for whale hunts it says are carried out for “scientific purposes”.
Norway and Iceland hunt carry out commercial whale hunting under legal loopholes.
Aboriginal whaling
Canada
Russia
Faroe Islands (Denmark)
Aboriginal whaling is carried out by countries with a tradition of doing it for subsistence purposes.
Japan
Although a 1986 moratorium was successful in greatly reducing the numbers of whales taken, Japan chose to defy the ban.
It routinely exploits a provision in the moratorium that allows whaling to be conducted for scientific purposes.
Because of this, Japanese whalers still kill hundreds of whales every year.
Many are in the southern ocean, which led Australia to take Japan to the International Court of Justice.
It ruled in 2014 that Japan’s whaling should cease.
In spite of the ruling, Japan continued with its whaling programme. This led Australia to propose a more stringent review of all existing permits.
Anti-whaling NGOs say Japan’s scientific whaling is a disguise. Others criticise the practice because it is carried out in the southern ocean. This has been declared a whale sanctuary and all whaling is prohibited.
Japan to face criticism at IWC for ignoring whaling ruling, comments by HSI's Kitty