VARIOUS / FILE: Whale hunt ban that has led some big whale stock to recover should not be lifted

Record ID: 480209

  • Title: VARIOUS / FILE: Whale hunt ban that has led some big whale stock to recover should not be lifted
  • Date: 13th August 2008
  • Summary: (EU)STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (AUGUST 12, 2008) ( REUTERS) WOODEN PAINTING ON WALL READING GREENPEACE GREENPEACE FRODE PLEYM (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRODE PLEYM SAYING: "While some species of whales have started to recover, none of them are back to the levels they had before industrial whaling started. This report should not be an excuse to hunt these species back to an endanger
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: European Union
  • Reuters ID: LVADHOU6BCMQMOID655G7GUGFOX3
  • Story Text: Some large whale species such as the humpback, minke and southern right whale are recovering from a threat of extinction, helped by curbs on hunts since the 1980s, the world's largest conservation network said on Tuesday (August 12).
    A review of cetaceans -- about 80 types of whales, dolphins and porpoises -- showed almost a quarter were in danger, mostly small species.
    Entanglement in fishing gear was the main threat, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said.
    The large whales, the commercially important ones, have for the most part responded well under protection from hunting,"the IUCN, which groups governments, scientists and conservationists, said.
    The world imposed a moratorium on all hunts in 1986 after many species were driven towards extinction by decades of exploitation for meat, oil and whalebone.
    Japan, Norway and Iceland still hunt minke whales, arguing they are plentiful.
    Norway expressed hopes that the report would help Oslo's argument that there are at least 100,000 minke whales in the north Atlantic and that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) should relax the blanket ban on whaling.
    Halvard Johansen, deputy director general at the Norwegian Fisheries Ministry said: "The listing of the whale stocks in CITES appendixes is not correct."
    He said CITES ( Convention on International Trade Endangered Species ) should base its decisions on the facts and "not on some recommendations that are not based on scientific evidence".
    Japan declined to comment directly on the IUCN's review given that it is not a member of the network, but said debate within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) should take into account data on stocks. The IWC oversees the 1986 ban.
    Norway has a quota of 1,052 minke whales and Iceland 40 in the north Atlantic in 2008. Japan caught 551 minke whales off Antarctica in the past season. Hunts used to be far bigger.
    Frode Pleym of Greenpeace said "While some species have started to recover, none of them are back to the levels they had before industrial whaling started."

    "This report should not be an excuse to hunt these species back to an endangered level again, Pleym added.

    "To us clearly commercial whaling is unsustainable, it doesn't make any sense in economic terms and it should stop," Pleym stressed.
    Pleym pointed out in Norway, Japan and Iceland the demand for whale meat was in decline, which would have an effect on "the politically motivated quotas."
    The IUCN said many species were still in trouble. The blue whale, the largest creature ever to have lived on earth, remained "endangered"
    along with the fin whale and sei whale.
    Overall, nearly a quarter of cetacean species are considered threatened and nine species are listed as 'endangered' or 'critically endangered',"
    the highest levels of threat, the IUCN said in a statement.
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