New Proposal at International Whaling Commission Eliminates Loopholes and Considers Quotas
23.06.2010 - Water & Oceans, Flora & Fauna, Bi-polar
As key governments taking part in the 62nd Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) consider the meeting a “make-or-break time", the IWC chair Christian Maquiera and vice-chair Anthony Liverpool have put forward a new proposal. In an effort to resolve fundamental differences by the end of the week, they suggested to drop certain loopholes in the ban on commercial whaling, including the one allowing Japan to hunt whales for scientific purposes.
While getting rid of the loopholes in the ban on commercial hunting was generally well-supported, other measures suggested by the chair and vice-chair of the IWC were not. Among these, the quotas that were suggested for all hunted species, including some endangered ones. According to current estimates of whales killed, the new proposal would lead to 14,000 fewer whales killed over the next decade in comparison with the number of whales that could be killed if hunting was maintained at current levels.
Both Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), groups opposed to any hunting of endangered or vulnerable species, are now expecting a new proposal.
