04/05/2006 - New ‘Save
our Whales' wristbands launched today will help
raise awareness of whale protection measures within
the Australian community, the Minister for the
Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell
said.
The new wristbands will direct
people to a new Australian Government website
containing information about whales and how Australia
is helping to protect them.
Launching the new wristbands
in Brisbane, the Minister said he had received
thousands of responses from Australians, particularly
school children, wanting information about whales.
“Every day I get letters from
school children and members of the community about
whales - most angry about the whaling activities
that are still carried out by countries such as
Japan, Norway and Iceland,” Senator Campbell said.
“I hope the wristbands and the
new website will help raise awareness of the threats
facing whales and inform people of the range of
measures we have in place to protect them.
“Between the start of modern
whaling in 1904 and 1986 when a moratorium on
whaling came into effect, it is estimated that
nearly 2 million whales were killed in the southern
hemisphere. Due to our efforts, a number of whale
populations are now recovering. For instance,
humpback whales can now be seen in the thousands
migrating through Australian waters during the
winter months.
“Whaling is a practice that
was widespread around the world decades ago and,
as far as I and most Australians are concerned,
it should remain in history.”
“For over 25 years the Australian
Government has pursued a permanent global ban
on commercial whaling and worldwide protection
for whales through the International Whaling Commission
(IWC).
“Many pro-whaling countries will be pushing for
the adoption of proposals to, amongst other things,
expedite a return to commercial whaling at the
next meeting of the IWC in the Caribbean next
month. This poses a real threat to the future
protection for whales.
“Australia, together with its
pro-conservation allies including New Zealand
and the United Kingdom, want to see the ban on
commercial whaling continued and an end to whaling
under the guise of science. We will continue to
work hard to achieve this in the lead up to the
IWC meeting.
“This will not be easy but we
will continue to fight until we achieve what we've
set out to do.
The new Australian Government website, which includes
a range of information products about whale protection
and also information for kids and teachers can
be found at www.saveourwhales.gov.au
