Efforts to Create Whale Sanctuaries Fail

Adapted from MSNBC News Report

Pro-whaling nations successfully blocked an effort to create whale sanctuaries in the South Pacific and South Atlantic. The protected zones would have provided protection for whale populations in the event that the 15-year moratorium on commercial whaling is ever overturned.
Supporters of the sanctuaries, including Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, say that the move is necessary to allow depleted whale populations to recover to natural levels. However, the proponents failed to win the necessary votes at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference, in July.

Those nations opposed to the creation of sanctuaries, including Japan and its allies, contend that the proposal has no basis in science. They argue that the existing moratorium on whale hunting provides adequate protection and that whale populations in many parts of the world are strong enough to withstand some hunting. Japan and Norway would like to abolish the moratorium but seem unable to get the necessary IWC votes to do so. Japan kills about 500 whales a year under an exception to the moratorium that allows whales to be taken for scientific research.

There are two existing whale sanctuaries in the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean where no whaling is allowed, even for scientific research. Conservationists say that now it is up to the individual nations of a region to initiate protective measures in their waters.