SINGAPORE, Sept 27 (Askume) – The International Whaling Commission (IWC) rejected a proposal to create a protected area for whales and other cetacean species in the South Atlantic at a meeting on Thursday, disappointing conservationists.
At the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Lima, Peru, 40 countries approved a plan to create safe harbors that would ban commercial whaling from West Africa to the coast of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, with whaling also prohibited except in existing Southern Ocean protected areas.
However, 14 countries opposed the plan, meaning it failed to achieve the required 75% of the vote.
Opponents include Norway, one of three countries still engaged in commercial whaling, along with Iceland and Japan. Iceland did not participate, while Japan withdrew from the IWC in 2019.
Peter Meier, head of the Norwegian delegation, said at the meeting that the proposal “reflects everything that is wrong with the IWC” and that the shelving is “completely unnecessary”.
Norway, Japan and Iceland caught 825 whales globally last year, according to data submitted to the IWC.
The proposal states that most large whale species in the South Atlantic are being “caught with difficulty” by whaling fleets “outside the area” and that the reserve would help maintain current populations.
The proposal states that 53 species of other cetaceans, such as whales and dolphins, are found in the South Atlantic, many of which are threatened with extinction. It also includes plans to protect cetaceans from accidental “bycatch” by fishing fleets.
“It is extremely disappointing that this proposal has once again been rejected by countries with a vested interest in killing whales,” said Grete Delgadillo, deputy Latin America director for animal rights group Humane Society International.
Antigua and Barbuda’s attempt to declare whaling a source of “food security” has not been supported, instead the International Whaling Commission’s proposal to continue the global ban on commercial whaling that has been in place since 1986 has been supported.
“The message behind this proposal is important given the ongoing efforts by pro-whaling nations to overturn the 40-year ban,” Delgadillo said.
