21 Dec 2007 - The Japanese
government has agreed to drop plans to hunt
humpback whales during this year's annual
whaling expedition in the Antarctic.
This year's hunt is particularly controversial
because in addition to some 935 minke whales
and 50 fin whales, the fleet intended to kill
up to 50 humpbacks.
"Humpback whales have captured the hearts
and minds of the public like almost no other
sea creature," said Wendy Elliott of
WWF's Global Species Programme.
"Humpbacks are viewed with awe when
sighted on whale watching expeditions -- not
only because of their majesty, but also their
rarity. This species is still to fully recover
from systematic hunting prior to the 1960s
that decimated populations, and the species
is classified as vulnerable by IUCN."
Humpback whales have been protected from
commercial whaling for more than 40 years
as the IWC banned their commercial hunting
since the mid 1960's - well before the global
moratorium on whaling into force in 1986.
"WWF welcomes this climb down. However,
Japan is still flouting international opinion
by going after minke and fin whales - all
in the name of so called science," Elliott
added.
WWF says Japan's "scientific whaling"
it is nothing more than a cover that uses
bogus science as a pretext for commercial
whaling. The environmental organization has
repeatedly condemned Japan's scientific whaling
programme as unnecessary and unscientific,
noting that non-lethal research techniques
are available to provide nearly all relevant
data on whale populations.
The current expedition lasts through April.
Joanna Benn, Communications Manager, International
Species Programme
