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Southern Resident whales

Ambitious plan to free captive orca Lolita announced

The new owner of the Miami Seaquarium in the US has announced that it is...
Gray whale

UN adopts High Seas Treaty to protect the ocean

At the UN 'High Seas Treaty' negotiations in New York, a historic vote for the...

Hopes raised for whale and dolphin protection after last minute landmark nature agreement

WDC's Ed Goodall (far right) at COP15 with Thérèse Coffey (centre) UK Secretary of State...

WDC orca champion picks up award

Beatrice Whishart MSP picks up her Nature Champion award The Scottish Environment LINK, an organisation...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings

Minke whale hunts stop in Iceland

Iceland’s commercial hunt of minke whales has ended for this year. The common minke whale is the...
Port River dolphins

New report reveals 100,000 dolphins and small whales hunted every year

When you hear the words ‘dolphin hunts’ it’s likely that you think of Japan or...

Japan set to resume commercial whaling

Reports from Japan suggest that the government they will formally propose plans to resume commercial...

End the whale hunts! Icelandic fin whaler isolated as public mood shifts

Here’s a sight I hoped never again to witness. A boat being scrubbed and repainted...

Australian Government to block Japanese whaling proposal

Japanese Government officials have reportedly confirmed that they will propose the resumption of commercial whaling...

Did Icelandic whalers really kill a blue whale?

*Warning - this blog contains an image that you may find upsetting* They say a...

Icelandic whalers breach international law and kill iconic, protected whale by mistake

Icelandic whalers out hunting fin whales for the first time in three years appear to...

Pregnant whales once again a target for Japanese whalers

Figures from Japan's whaling expedition to Antarctica during the 2017/18 austral summer have revealed that...

Doubts remain after Icelandic Marine Institute claims slaughtered whale was a hybrid not a blue

Experts remain sceptical of initial test results issued by the Icelandic Marine Institute, which indicate...

Norway's whaling season begins

April 1st saw the start of the whaling season in Norway. Despite a widely-accepted international moratorium...

SOS alert for whales off Norway!

I have to admit to bitter disappointment when I arrived in Tromsø, northern Norway, a...

Icelandic fin whale hunting to resume

Iceland’s only fin whaling company, Hvalur hf,  announced today that it will resume fin whaling...

International wildlife convention decision could lead to more endangered whale deaths

Japan’s illegal trade in sei whale meat looks set to continue for now following a disappointing decision made at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

CITES is an international agreement between governments that ensures international trade in specimens of wild animals does not threaten their survival, and it was hoped that Japan’s sei whale slaughter, which violates international regulations, would be ended at its latest Standing Committee meeting.

Sadly, that opportunity was missed when the committee chose to defer a decision on the legality of the whale hunts until late 2018.

The government of Japan has conducted a long-standing programme of hunts in the North Pacific killing 134 sei whales a year despite this species being endangered and a ban on their use for commercial purposes. The Japanese hunts are conducted under the guise of ‘scientific research’ in order to try to avoid the ban yet much of the meat ends up on sale.

Although some specimens, including the whales’ eyes, testes and ovaries, are preserved for scientific research, the vast majority of each whale – about 12 tonnes – is frozen and vacuum-sealed for sale for human consumption in Japan.

In 2016, the CITES Secretariat began an investigation into whether these actions by Japan are violating the CITES convention. At the latest meeting this week, the Secretariat staff reported back to the Standing Committee on the responses received. Although several parties, including African and Latin American nations, pushed for urgent action at this meeting, the chair concluded that the committee would give Japan another year to provide responses to the original questions and asked Japan to invite the Secretariat to conduct a fact-finding mission.

As a result, Japan has been given a free pass by CITES, and the opportunity to kill another 134 sei whales before a decision on the issue is made. 

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