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Indigenous community in Norway seek permission to hunt dolphins

Indigenous community in Norway seek permission to hunt dolphins

A new proposal to hunt dolphins and harbour porpoise put forward by the indigenous Sami people of northern Norway, has been endorsed by the representative Sami parliament. The Sami parliament, which oversees the Sami populations in Norway, northern Finland, parts of Russia and Sweden, unanimously endorsed the proposal and will now take their request to…

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Proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic is defeated at whaling meeting

A proposal to establish a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary (SAWS) has failed to be ratified at International Whaling Commission (IWC – the body that regulates whale hunting), which is  meeting in Brazil this week. The sanctuary would prevent whale hunting and encourage research and economic opportunities for local communities in the South Atlantic, but it…

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Community in Canada advised not to eat beluga whale meat after woman dies

A community in Quebec, Canada have been advised by local officials not to eat beluga whale meat after a woman died and her daughter was taken seriously ill in Inukjuak. Dr. Francoise Bouchard, the director of public health for the region, said both cases have been diagnosed as botulism. “It is probably from beluga meat,” said Dr Bouchard. Tests…

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Turning the tide in St Vincent and the Grenadines

  St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is a beautiful island nation in the Eastern Caribbean.  Humpback whaling began on Bequia, its second largest island, in 1875 when William Wallace, a Scottish settler, returned to the island after working on an American whaling vessel. He established a whaling company and passed on techniques for hunting…

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Day Five of IWC 2016

Agenda Item 19 Finance and Administration The meeting opens slightly late due to technical difficulties. Bruno: regarding yesterday’s Agenda, I forgot to confirm that all delegates are happy for the Commission to endorse cooperation with other organisations? (General assent).  Also apologizes to IGO/NGOs that he was ‘a little too fast’ in closing yesterday.  The Chair…

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Denmark: Wanting their whale and eating it

So Denmark has submitted its opening statement to the IWC and I guess the question is, have they learned their lesson since the last meeting? One reading of the statement would suggest that Denmark wants to ‘have their cake’, and, as the old saying goes, quite literally, ‘eat it’. I asked in a previous post…

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