June 18, 2009

Madeira - As delegates at the 61st meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) prepare to be asked ‘deal or no deal?’ on Japanese coastal whaling, members of the Whalewatch network are presenting governments with a letter signed by almost 70,000 people from 63 countries calling for ‘no deal on cruelty.’ (Footnote 1)

For five days from June 22nd IWC member countries will meet in Madeira to decide whether to commit to a process that would allow Japan to hunt 750 coastal minke whales over a five year period. This is being considered as a trade-off to urge Japan to scale back its bogus ‘scientific whaling’ operations. However, any reduction would be non-binding and Japan has so far offered to cut its catch by only 29 whales. As an ominous but inevitable consequence, Korea has announced it will demand the same treatment if Japan is allowed coastal whaling.

“Millions of people all over the world want this cruel and unnecessary practice abolished and yet the IWC is considering implicating itself in this shady deal to harpoon the whaling ban,” said Claire Bass, Marine Mammal Program Manager, WSPA, “The IWC is on a very slippery slope, this deal would set an extremely dangerous precedent, paving the way for a global resumption of coastal commercial whaling.”

Whaling nations have killed over 1,700 whales since negotiations began, signalling their lack of commitment to the process. WSPA believes that continuing these one-sided negotiations with Japan would be a waste of the IWC’s time and resources.

Claire Bass continued “It is becoming increasingly clear that the battle against commercial whaling needs to be fought and won in the whaling nations, not in the IWC.”

The ‘pro-whale’ non-governmental organization (NGO) community is united in believing that the IWC has lost its sense of perspective; just three countries want to go commercial whaling and yet the current ‘Future of the IWC’ process - under which the Japan deal has been conceived - is almost exclusively focussed on meeting their demands.

Meanwhile whale watching, a $1.25 billion a year industry supported in well over half of all IWC members’ countries, is being completely sidelined. The process is also failing to prioritize the Commission’s important work to protect whales from an increasing raft of threats including climate change, pollution, ship strikes and ‘by-catch’ in fishing nets.

“The IWC has slipped into this insane situation whereby it’s considering effectively rewarding Japan for its bogus ‘scientific’ whaling by offering up 750 more whales. We’re urging ‘pro-whale’ countries to reject the unreasonable demands of the whaling nations and instead focus on protecting whales and the whale watching industries that depend upon them,” concluded Claire Bass.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals is the world’s largest alliance of animal welfare organizations. Through partnership with hundreds of member societies we strive to create a world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty ends. We oppose whaling on the grounds that there is simply no humane way to kill whales at sea.

Notes to editors

1: Whalewatch is a network of almost 50 organizations with shared opposition to commercial whaling on welfare grounds. www.whalewatch.org

For more information and interviews please contact:

Brigitte Scheffer
International Media Manager
mediateam@wspa-international.org
Tel: +44 207 587 5014
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For information, interviews or images related to WSPA work in your region, please contact:
Meryl Bailey, WSPA: 617-896-9291, mbailey@wspausa.org