oceans

Greenpeace urges Norway to condemn Japanese vote buying

Last edited 24 July 2001 at 8:00am
Greenpeace action against whaling in NorwayAs the International Whaling Commission meets in London this week, Greenpeace urged the Norwegian Prime Minister to publicly distance Norway from its traditional pro-whaling ally, Japan.


This follows last week's startling admission from a senior Japanese official that Japan has been using development aid to buy votes at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Article tagged as: IWC, london, norway, oceans, sanctuaries, vote buying, whaling

Iceland fail in bid to rejoin IWC without abiding by whaling ban

Last edited 23 July 2001 at 8:00am
IWC53: Watching the whalers

IWC53: Watching the whalers

IWC conference update: day 1

The first item on the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) agenda today was a long and complicated attempt by Iceland (backed by Japan, Norway and the at least nine countries whose votes Japan has very obviously bought) to re-join the IWC while rejecting the moratorium on whaling implemented by the IWC in 1986.

Luckily, even after a series of votes and legal manouvres by the pro-whaling nations, this was unsucessful! Iceland meantime made their intentions clear - saying that they wanted the moratorium on whaling overturned as quickly as possible so that whaling can resume.

Article tagged as: iceland, IWC, moratorium, oceans, vote buying, whaling

Iceland's attempt to resume commercial whaling fails

Last edited 23 July 2001 at 8:00am
23 July, 2001

Iceland's attempt to resume commercial whaling immediately were rejected by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in London today.

Iceland wanted to rejoin the Commission with a reservation to the current international moratorium on commercial whaling. Iceland, which quit the IWC in 1992, announced today that it wanted the moratorium on commercial whaling overturned as quickly as possible so whaling can resume.

Today, after a series of votes, the IWC concluded that Iceland will only have observer status during this week's meeting and will not be allowed to vote on key issues, such as the possible resumption of commercial whaling or the establishment of a new whale sanctuary in the South Pacific.

Article tagged as: iceland, IWC, moratorium, oceans, press releases, whaling

The International Whaling Commission (IWC)

Last edited 23 July 2001 at 8:00am
the world is watching - IWC 53The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established in 1946 to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks" and "thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry." By that time, the whaling industry had already severely depleted many of the world's great whale populations. Gray, Bowhead and Right whales were already considered commercially extinct. Yet it was not until 1982 that members of the IWC voted to adopt a moratorium on commercial whaling that would take effect in 1986.
Article tagged as: IWC, moratorium, oceans, revised management scheme, whaling

Melting ice threatens blue whales' food supply

Posted by bex — 20 July 2001 at 8:00am - Comments
Whale tail

Whale tail

Melting polar ice is threatening the main food source for Antarctic blue whales and could lead to their extinction, an international environmental group said yesterday. The whales feed on small sea creatures known as krill, which in turn eat microscopic marine algae. These live in sea ice and are released in the summer when the ice melts.

Article tagged as: blue whales, climate change, conservation, impacts, krill, oceans, sea ice, WWF

Japan admits buying whaling votes in exchange for aid

Last edited 19 July 2001 at 8:00am
19 July, 2001

Greenpeace today expressed no surprise at the admission by a senior official of the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Maseyuku Komatsu, that Japan has been using overseas aid to secure support for its campaign to have the current international ban on whaling lifted.

The admission comes just a week before the start of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference in London (1). IWC countries already recruited by Japan through vote buying include six East Caribbean states, (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis), and Guinea. Panama and Morocco have joined the IWC this year and are also expected to vote alongside Japan.

Article tagged as: antigua and barbadua, IWC, japan, maseyuku komatsu, moratorium, oceans, press releases, vote buying, whaling

Special IWC meeting to consider resumption of commercial whaling

Last edited 6 February 2001 at 9:00am
6 February, 2001

A special Intersessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opens today in Monaco to "make further progress" on a Scheme that, if agreed, will take the world significantly closer to the resumption of large-scale commercial whaling.


The Revised Management Scheme (RMS) aims to establish a set of rules (including those covering inspection and observation) that would be used if the IWC agreed to allow countries to hunt whales for commercial purposes again. In the past, commercial whaling brought many whale populations to the brink of extinction - a fact which led the IWC to agree to an international moratorium on all commercial whaling, which has been in effect since 1986.

Article tagged as: IWC, moratorium, oceans, press releases, protests, revised management scheme, whaling

Norwegian Government to grant export licenses?

Last edited 12 January 2001 at 9:00am
A dead whale is sliced in to whalemeat

Later this month the Norwegian Government will consider whether to grant export licenses to a number of Norwegian companies which are pressing to be allowed to sell whale meat and blubber to Japan.

Article tagged as: norway, oceans, whales, whaling

Whaling captain convicted of shooting at Greenpeace

Last edited 27 November 2000 at 9:00am
norwegian whaling

Last Thursday (23rd of November) Stavanger City Court found Ole Mindor Myklebust guilty of shooting at two Greenpeace activists during a high seas action in 1999. Luckily neither of the activists, Dave Thoenen and Ulvar Arnkvarn, was hurt during the incident, but a bullet did pierce the pontoon of the inflatable that they had placed between a whaling vessel (the Kato) and a minke whale. The whaler was sentenced to a six months conditional prison sentence and a fine of 20,000 Norwegian kroner and his weapon (a high calibre Winchester rifle) has been confiscated.

Article tagged as: oceans, whales, whaling

Japan's whalers head for the Southern Ocean Sanctuary once more.

Last edited 17 November 2000 at 9:00am

japfleetflags

Less than two months after returning from its expanded North Pacific hunt, the Japanese whaling fleet has today set off from its home port of Shimonoseki towards the Southern Ocean Sanctuary where it intends to kill a further 440 minke whales.

Article tagged as: IWC, japan, oceans, whale sanctuaries, whales, whaling