Search: Go

Whales Working Group

Acting Chair: Mark Simmonds, WDCS
Acting Vice Chair: Vacant
Secretary: Joanna Fisher

The Whales Working Group works to ensure better protection of cetaceans including through the reform of International Whaling Commission - the international body responsible for regulating the hunting of whales - into a conservation body. The group also addresses other issues relating to cetacean conservation and welfare, such as ocean noise.

QUARTERLY UPDATE: April to June 2010

The main focus for Link’s Whales Working Group this quarter was the 62nd Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC62), which took place in Agadir, Morocco in June. Ahead of IWC62, Link sent a number of briefings to Defra officials, including an ‘NGO Briefing to the UK Government: Key issues for the 62nd meeting of the IWC’ and ‘NGO Priority Issues for IWC62 (aside from the Chair/ Vice-Chair’s Proposal on the Future of the IWC)’.

 

We also met with the new Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon MP to discuss our concerns with the Proposal on the Future of the IWC, and had several useful meetings with the new UK IWC Commissioner, Nigel Gooding.

 

A number of Link members attended IWC62 and two Link/ NGO representatives joined the UK IWC delegation. Link was pleased that Richard Benyon MP, was also in attendance at priority meetings.

 

One of the key items on the table for consideration at IWC62 was the Proposal on the Future of the IWC, which Link had significant concerns with. If accepted, the proposal would have legitimised commercial whaling for the first time in more than 25 years and could have set precedents for the resurrection of large-scale commercial whaling industries worldwide. The Commission was unable to reach consensus on the Proposal at the Annual Meeting and it was agreed that work on this topic would be postponed until the 2011 meeting.

 

Another item on the agenda at IWC62 was the consideration of the request for revised quotas for the Greenlandic hunts. A quota was agreed of nine humpback whales per year to be hunted in Greenland until 2012 – a total of 27 whales over three years.