On the second day of the 55th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moves to introduce new Whale Sanctuaries were defeated. Two new proposed areas, the South Pacific Whale Sanctuary (SPWS) and the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary (SAWS) were unsuccessful. This is the fourth unsuccessful attempt to establish a SPWS and the third unsuccessful attempt to create a SAWS.
The Japanese government also proposed an amendment which would have effectively abolished the Southern Oceans Whales Sanctuary (created by the IWC in 1994). Fortunately this amendment was not successful.
Whales are slow to breed, and face a myriad of environmental threats from fisheries, pollution, climate change, ozone depletion and a range of other human activities. For these reasons Greenpeace believes there should be a permanent ban on all commercial whaling.
As a means of achieving this goal, we support the creation of whale sanctuaries. Sanctuaries, places of refuge, are areas that are off-limits to whaling interests, places where whale populations can breed, feed and continue their slow recovery from years of exploitation. Sanctuaries offer critical opportunities to promote whale conservation and non-lethal scientific research.
Sanctuaries can also offer attractive economic benefits. Sanctuaries aid the development of whale watching, the only truly sustainable economic form of activity involving whales. Whale watching is a thriving industry, with more than 87 countries running whale watching operations now, and generates US$1 billion in revenue worldwide each year.
