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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
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...

Minke whale hunts stop in Iceland

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

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...

Icelandic fin whale hunting to resume

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

Norway increases whaling quota despite declining demand

Norway's government has announced an increase in the number of minke whales that can be...

Norway's whaling season begins

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

WDC presents petition to Carnival and asks them to stop exploiting dolphins

Today, WDC representatives, Rob Lott (End Captivity campaigner) and Julia Thoms (campaigns manager) met with senior Carnival staff at their headquarters in Miami. We were there to present more than 27,000 signatures from WDC supporters who want Carnival to stop offering their cruise ship passengers shore excursions to swim-with-dolphins attractions. If you were one of the 27,000 who signed our petition – thank you, we were there on your behalf.

This petition is part of our campaign to end all UK tour operator support for whale and dolphin captivity, to which well over 300,000 people have already given their support.

Carnival is the biggest cruise company in the world and owns household brands such as P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruises and Cunard and we welcomed this opportunity to talk with them about the role they can play in helping to shape a more positive future for tourism, especially in Mexico and the Caribbean.

We explained why dolphins are unsuited to life in captivity and how the cruise industry is inextricably linked to the rise in swim-with-dolphins attractions in Mexico and the Caribbean where dolphins have to interact with tourists all day every day. As industry leader we hope that if we can persuade Carnival to make changes, others will follow.

Carnival have committed to auditing all the dolphin facilities on their books, beginning this year, and today they reinforced their commitment to this process. We will keep talking with them as they undertake these audits. We hope that they will follow the example that has been set by Thomas Cook who have so far dropped 29 attractions which failed to meet standards at audit.

Carnival were keen to hear about sanctuaries as solutions for the individuals already in captivity and congratulated WDC on launching the world’s first whale sanctuary in partnership with SEA LIFE Trust. 

We are best placed to influence change by working with the travel industry, and we are optimistic that by building relationships like this, we can help companies transition to a model of tourism that does not exploit dolphins but rather allows holidaymakers to experience these intelligent, sensitive creatures in their natural environment.