There’s been quite a bit of media lately on the whales front. And the conflicting reports can be a bit confusing
Here’s what’s going on in a nutshell – and it’s not good.
As we wrote in February, 12 key countries, including Australia and Japan have been involved in talks over whaling for some time which has resulted in a proposal that would legitimise commercial whaling.
Last week the proposal was filled in with figures on the number of whales that would be killed over the next 10 years.
The proposal would see Japan, Norway and Iceland (which all whale in defiance of the moratorium on whaling) hunt 1,392 whales in the next 5 years and 1,232 whales in the 5 years after that.
Last season around 1,500 whales were killed. These figures include identified endangered species.
This proposal essentially rewards these countries for decades of breaching the moratorium. As our US Campaigner has said, “it’s like authorities rewarding a burglar with a bag of money because they can’t catch him”.
Worst of all, after the 10 years there are no guarantees that the whaling would end. The countries could simply gear up industrial whaling on a greater scale.
Thankfully the Australian Government has rejected the proposal. And the New Zealand Government, which was backing the proposal, has now started back pedalling saying these numbers are too high.
We still need your help. Whilst the Australian Government has taken a strong stand the NZ Govt is still in the tent seeking a compromise. What is needed is a proposal that would benefit the whales not the whalers.
