More Information

Despite the moratorium on whaling imposed by the international community in 1986, the whales are still threatened. A number of countries and their whaling industries continue pushing for resumption of commercial whaling.

An effective method to give further protection to the whales is the creation of sanctuaries -- areas where whaling is forbidden not just temporarily, but for the indefinite future and the benign study and conservation of whales is encouraged.

The Southern Ocean Sanctuary (SOS), established in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission (the international body responsible for overseeing conservation and management of global whale populations) covers all waters surrounding Antarctica and protects three-quarters of the world's whales in their feeding grounds. The SOS protects depleted populations of blue, fin, sei and humpback whales and also protects the world's only large population of great whales which has not been seriously depleted by whaling - the Antarctic minkes. Other sanctuaries are currently being planned which would complement the SOS by giving permanent protection to the whales' breeding grounds and migratory routes thus giving the Antarctic whales full protection throughout their life cycle.

The pro-whaling forces, however are attempting to undermine the sanctuary concept by trying to repeal the Southern Ocean Sanctuary as well as working to block the introduction of other sanctuaries. The pro-whaling Japanese government agencies and industry have been particularly active in this respect. Under the guise of so-called 'scientific' whaling Japan has been killing hundreds of whales every year within the Southern Ocean Sanctuary.

Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling is a sham - it was introduced as a means of keeping the industry alive (the catch is sold on the commercial market) and it does not contribute any information needed by the International Whaling Commission for the management of whales. By the time the meat from this venture reaches the final buyer it has earned a hundred million US dollars a year for producers, wholesalers and retailers. To call this whaling industry 'scientific' brings science and the scientific community into disrepute.

The IWC decided by a vote of 23 to 1 to create the SOS, and so prevent the possibility of any future legal commercial whaling ever taking place in the waters around Antarctica. Despite this, Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling continues to provid e 2,000 tonnes of whale meat a year for the Japanese domestic market.

Commercial whaling in the Antarctic, under whatever guise it is perpetrated, defies international law. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides that States must work through the appropriate international organisations for conservation, management and study of cetaceans. The IWC is the appropriate international organisation in this case. Every year the IWC passes a resolution calling on Japan to cancel its whaling program in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary area. Every year Japan ignores this call and continues killing whales in Antarctica.

We are on the threshold of a new millennium. It is time to relegate whaling to its rightful place among the outdated destructive practices that have so damaged the planet over the past thousand years.