WWF Denounces Japan, Norway and Russia for Killing Whales
May 14, 1998 - 0:0
GENEVA The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Tuesday roundly condemned the killing of over 18,000 whales mainly by Japan, Norway, and Russia in defiance of a global whaling ban. The figure features in a disturbing reported entitled Great Whales in the Wild issued by the WWF in the runup to next week's meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Oman. Despite the moratorium which took effect in 1986 and the creation of a whale sanctuary in the southern Antarctic Ocean in 1994, whales are still dying, said one of the report's authors, Elizabeth Kemf. Every year, 1,000 whales are killed for commercial purposes and the number is growing, the WWF said.
The international moratorium is opposed by and Norway and Japan, singled out by the WWF as the world's worst offender. Tokyo killed 1,200 sperm whales under an unorthodox commercial accord with the United States which ended in 1988, according to the study. Since then, it has killed 3,600 under the guise of scientific whaling, allowed under a moratorium loophole. Most of the hunting has occurred in the southern ocean sanctuary.
The whale meat subsequently ends up on the plates of Japanese consumers, who pay sometimes exorbitant sums for the delicacy. Prices for whale meat range from around 4,000 yen to 35,000 yen ($30 to $280) per kilogram, far higher than in Norway, which has slaughtered 3,200 whales for profit-making reasons. The tally for Russia is some 167 per year, mainly for its aboriginal populations, the WWF said.
All whales face a wide range of new and increasing threats in addition to being hunted easily, the WWF warned. The biggest dangers are noise pollution, boat collisions, degradation of whales' habitat chiefly by toxic products, climate change and drowning in fishing nets. Over the past quarter century, modern synthetic driftnets and gillnets have led to the death of millions of cetaceans, including dolphins, the WWF said.
In 1996, South Korea reported it had accidentally killed 128 minke whales as a bycatch in its fishery operations. Six out of 11 great whale species are considered to be endangered or vulnerable, according to the WWF. The northern right whale is currently the most threatened large whale, with only 1,000 remaining. The population of the blue whale, the largest mammal to have lived on Earth, has shrunk from an original pool of 250,000 to as few as 500.
The beluga whales of the St Lawrence River have suffered particularly from toxic contaminants and only around 700 are still living. The IWC must remain control over the management of whaling, Kemf urged. The WWF is also demanding that international trade in whale meat be banned, more whale sanctuaries and protected areas established and marine pollution reduced. (AFP)
The international moratorium is opposed by and Norway and Japan, singled out by the WWF as the world's worst offender. Tokyo killed 1,200 sperm whales under an unorthodox commercial accord with the United States which ended in 1988, according to the study. Since then, it has killed 3,600 under the guise of scientific whaling, allowed under a moratorium loophole. Most of the hunting has occurred in the southern ocean sanctuary.
The whale meat subsequently ends up on the plates of Japanese consumers, who pay sometimes exorbitant sums for the delicacy. Prices for whale meat range from around 4,000 yen to 35,000 yen ($30 to $280) per kilogram, far higher than in Norway, which has slaughtered 3,200 whales for profit-making reasons. The tally for Russia is some 167 per year, mainly for its aboriginal populations, the WWF said.
All whales face a wide range of new and increasing threats in addition to being hunted easily, the WWF warned. The biggest dangers are noise pollution, boat collisions, degradation of whales' habitat chiefly by toxic products, climate change and drowning in fishing nets. Over the past quarter century, modern synthetic driftnets and gillnets have led to the death of millions of cetaceans, including dolphins, the WWF said.
In 1996, South Korea reported it had accidentally killed 128 minke whales as a bycatch in its fishery operations. Six out of 11 great whale species are considered to be endangered or vulnerable, according to the WWF. The northern right whale is currently the most threatened large whale, with only 1,000 remaining. The population of the blue whale, the largest mammal to have lived on Earth, has shrunk from an original pool of 250,000 to as few as 500.
The beluga whales of the St Lawrence River have suffered particularly from toxic contaminants and only around 700 are still living. The IWC must remain control over the management of whaling, Kemf urged. The WWF is also demanding that international trade in whale meat be banned, more whale sanctuaries and protected areas established and marine pollution reduced. (AFP)