Greenpeace Blog

What happened at the International Whaling Commission 2016 meeting

Posted by Willie — 28 October 2016 at 4:48pm - Comments

The International Whaling Commission meeting 2016 has just come to a close. Delegates from 64 countries spent a week discussing and debating whales, in Potoroz, Slovenia.
Greenpeace’s international team was there, and here’s a quick roundup of what happened.

Article tagged as: biodiversity, commercial whaling, ecosystems, International Whaling Commission, IWC, oceans, plankton, SAWS, scientific whaling, vaquita, vote buying, whale poo, whales, whaling

VICTORY! Massive new Ocean Sanctuary established off Antarctica!

Posted by Willie — 27 October 2016 at 10:03pm - Comments

Today, the largest marine protected area in the world was created in the Ross Sea, off the coast of Antarctica. This is a HUGE victory for the whales, penguins, and toothfish that live there and for the millions of people standing up to protect our oceans.

Vaquita porpoise takes centre stage at Whaling Commission meeting.

Posted by Willie — 27 October 2016 at 4:25pm - Comments

Big news for a little porpoise.

Something big just happened for the tiny vaquita porpoise at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. The diminutive porpoise was the subject of a resolution, passed by all the countries present, urging concerted international cooperation to save the species from extinction.

Article tagged as: baiji, biodiversity, bycatch, CITES, dolphins, endangered species, extinction, illegal fishing, International Whaling Commission, IWC, oceans, totoaba, vaquita

Whale Fail – no new sanctuary in the South Atlantic (again).

Posted by Willie — 25 October 2016 at 10:51am - Comments

Bad news from the 2016 International Whaling Commission meeting – as the first significant vote was another disappointment for whales and supporters of conservation. Despite getting a majority of votes in favour, the proposal to create a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary did not pass, because it was short of the three-quarters majority needed.

Article tagged as: conservation, International Whaling Commission, IWC, marine reserves, oceans, south atlantic whale sanctuary, whaling

10 big reasons a new runway at Heathrow is bad for the UK

Posted by India Thorogood — 24 October 2016 at 6:59pm - Comments

1. A new runway will fuel climate change

This month the world ratified the most ambitious climate agreement ever. The Paris agreement couldn’t come soon enough- 2016 was the hottest year on record and the Arctic sea ice reached the second lowest minimum ever.

10 good reasons to protect whales

Posted by Willie — 21 October 2016 at 1:42pm - Comments

Killing whales for food has been happening for millennia. But it was commercial whaling – turning whales into barrels of oil for profit – that led to the wholesale destruction of most of the world’s populations of big whales.

Article tagged as: bycatch, climate change, commercial whaling, ecosystems, iceland, International Whaling Commission, IWC, japan, norway, oceans, orcas, overfishing, PCBs, pollution, whales, whaling

Why is everyone talking about whale poo?

Posted by Willie — 20 October 2016 at 4:55pm - Comments

Whales are special. No, not for any stereotypical hippy la-la reasons, this is *science*!

Healthy oceans need lots of healthy whale populations: they keep things in balance, help disperse and mix nutrients, support entire ecosystems and help fight climate change.

Surprised? Read on…

Article tagged as: carbon, carbon sink, circle of life, co2, conservation, ecosystems, ecotourism, IWC, nutrients, oceans, plankton, poo, whale falls, whale poo, whale watching, whales, whaling

Why the South Atlantic should be a sanctuary for whales.

Posted by Willie — 20 October 2016 at 4:34pm - Comments

One of the most significant issues being discussed and voted on at the upcoming International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Slovenia is the call to create a Whale Sanctuary in the South Atlantic. But what is a whale sanctuary? Why does it matter? And what’s so special about the South Atlantic?

Article tagged as: IWC, marine reserves, whale sanctuary, whales, whaling oceans

A brief history of whales and commercial whaling

Posted by Willie — 20 October 2016 at 3:58pm - Comments

Commercial whaling devastated the world’s biggest whale species, pushing some of them to the very brink of extinction in the early to mid 20^th Century. Whaling for meat, oil, or whalebone was not a new idea, but new explosive harpoons and industrialised factory ships plundering the seas for whales had an even more catastrophic impact than what had come in centuries before.

It was the realisation that catches were declining that led to the creation, by whaling nations, of an organisation that would become the ‘International Whaling Commission’ (IWC).

Article tagged as: blue whales, commercial whaling, endangered species, hunting, International Whaling Commission, IWC, oceans, whales, whaling, whaling ban

International Whaling Commission meeting 2016 – what to expect.

Posted by Willie — 20 October 2016 at 2:59pm - Comments

Sperm Whales in Sri Lanka

Delegations from global governments, and representatives from NGOs are currently on their way to Slovenia for the biennial meeting of the International Whaling Commission meeting – so here’s a quick synopsis of what to expect from the meeting:

Article tagged as: climate change, commercial whaling, International Whaling Commission, IWC, oceans, whale poo, whales

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