The Future of the International Whaling Commission
Posted by Dave (in Anchorage, Alaska)
This has just arrived in my mailbox from colleagues sitting in the same vast hall of the IWC, during the debate on "The Future of the IWC". The wonders of batteries and wireless connections! I'm currently listening to a proposal for the creation of a Southern Atlantic whale sanctuary, as put forward by Brazil and Argentina.
Greenpeace Statement on the Future of the IWC
"The IWC Cannot Continue As it Currently Operates"
The only consensus on the future of the IWC is that it cannot remain the same. Greenpeace agrees, and believes the IWC should be modernised to address the major threats to whales and end the debate on the most preventable cause of whale mortality – commercial hunting.
Demands for sustainable use cannot be taken seriously until comprehensive consideration is given by the whole IWC, not just those who attend the Conservation Committee, to the hundreds of thousands of whales that die every year through other human impacts such as pollution, net entanglement, climate change and ship strikes.
Historically there is little or no evidence that governments are capable of sustainable management of marine resources – the history of whaling last century and the dire condition of three quarters of the worlds fish stocks this century, bear testament to that.
