With dramatic timing a planned whale and dolphin meat processing factory due to be built in the host city of this years International Whaling Commission (IWC) has been shelved. The decision, reported in the South Korean publication The Hankyoreh comes just days before this years IWC negotiations on conserving whale stocks begins.
This years IWC meeting is due to be held in the south-east port of Ulsan, historically known as the city of whales. The local council Ulsan City Council had planned to build a whale meat processing plant in Jangsaengpo, Ulsan. Work was due to commence in the autumn of 2005 after the construction of the Cetacean Research Centre was finished.
After learning of the whale butchery plans Greenpeace and Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) volunteers set up a protest site in the form of a whale embassy outside the proposed factory site, volunteers have been occupying the site for the past two months.
Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Willie Mackenzie said:
"Greenpeace and KFEM are greatly encouraged by news released today in the South Korean publication, The Hankyoreh, that plans to build a whalemeat factory in Ulsan, South Korea have been scrapped."
"If these reports are true, Greenpeace and KFEM welcome the South Korean government's courageous move. By scrapping the planned whale meat factory, the South Korean government is showing that it does not support whaling, and it does not wish to follow in the footsteps of the Japanese government in their determination to destroy the world's dwindling numbers of whales. We hope that this move towards whale protection will be extended to the IWC, and that the South Korean government will now vote in favour of whale protection and vote against a resumption of commercial whaling."
Scientific evidence shows that whales are in serious decline in Korean waters because of high incidents of 'accidental' by-catch, amongst other threats. In 2003 alone, Korea "accidentally" caught in excess of 84 whales, compared to less than five per year in non-whaling nations. Dead whales are sold for prices up to $100 000 on the legal whale meat market.
Despite a worldwide ban on commercial whaling, it is estimated that this year three countries (Japan, Norway & Iceland) will between them kill over 2,000 whales. Japan and Iceland do this under the guise of 'scientific' whaling and Norway has resumed commercial whaling and continues to hunt. The IWC is due to commence on 20th June and run until 24th June.
Further information:
Contact Greenpeace UK press office: 020 7865 8255
