WDC warns of crunch time for the whales as IWC65 opens
WDC campaigners are in Portoroz, Slovenia for the 65th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which opens today. The IWC currently meets every two years to consider issues relating to whaling and whale conservation.
WDC has fielded a team at each IWC meeting for the past 25 years; however, we believe that this year will present an exceptional challenge as there are several proposals tabled by the whaling nations which give great cause for concern and which we believe must be strongly opposed.
This year’s meeting is expected to be dominated by discussions on:
- The repercussions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in March that Japan’s Antarctic whaling was illegal; and Japan’s attempt to create a new category of ‘small-type coastal whaling’
- Greenland’s attempts to obtain an Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) quota, despite clear evidence of increasing commercialization of its hunts
Some notable omissions from this year’s formal agenda include:
- Iceland’s commercial whaling, despite ongoing hunts of endangered fin whales, as well as minke whales
- Norway’s escalating minke whaling, despite declining demand
The main meeting starts on Monday 15th. We will be posting regular updates at whales.org/IWC2014 and also reporting live on Twitter at #IWC2014