International Whaling Commission 2003
Greenpeace statement on IWC 2003
Greenpeace welcomes the IWC's move to place conservation at the heart of its agenda. The move marks a positive first step towards protecting the world's whales, dolphins and porpoises. However, we believe the new conservation committee will have a very difficult job to do, considering the myriad of environmental threats - from fisheries, toxic pollution, climate change, and ozone depletion - whales, dolphins and porpoises face. The IWC's challenge is to make bold choices and take strong action to prioritise and tackle these threats in the years to come.
Below is a summary of the IWC's 55th meeting.
An orca whale
The 55th IWC got off to a great start when historic steps towards protecting the world's remaining populations of whales, dolphins and porpoises were taken.
The 'Berlin Initiative', co-sponsored by 19 governments (including the UK), was passed in a 25-20 vote, despite strong opposition from the pro-whaling nations, Japan and Norway. More>>
IWC Day Two
On the second day of the IWC, moves to establish new whale sanctuaries in the South Pacific and the South Atlantic were defeated. The Japanese government also proposed an amendment to effectively abolish the Southern Oceans Whale Sanctuary (created by the IWC in 1994). Fortunately, the proposal was unsuccessful. More>>
Find out more about Whale Sanctuaries.
IWC Day Three
A resolution against 'scientific' whaling was passed. Despite a ban on commercial whaling, Japan and Norway (soon to be joined by Iceland) hunt whales under the guise of 'research'. They claim the hunts are to retrieve tissue samples and data on the whales' diets, but the meat from 'scientifically' hunted whales nevertheless ends up for sale. More about whaling >>
Breaching whales
On the final day, Greenpeace brought the reality of the oceans crisis directly to the meeting at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin. Delegates were confronted with the bodies of three harbour porpoises, representing the 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises that drown every year from accidental entanglement in nets and other environmental threats. (Pictured at top).
