The fight against whaling - Fiji Times Online

The fight against whaling - Fiji Times Online:

"The fight against whaling

Sunday, May 27, 2007

IF you're an ardent follower of the TV series Criminal Minds being shown on Fiji One, you would have also caught the Greenpeace advertisement featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins lobbying on behalf of the ocean's giant leviathans the endangered whales.

It is a timely advertisement given that on May 28-31, the annual 2007 meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will happen in Anchorage, Alaska.

Many will attend including representatives from Pacific Island countries that are members of the IWC to determine the future of whales.

The IWC is the decision making body of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) and originally had 14 member states.

Over the past 50 odd years, its membership has grown to 73 and they hold the fate of the whales and the dolphins in their hands.

The IWC was established in response to recognition that after centuries of whaling, species after species of the great whales were being hunted close to extinction.

Intensive whaling efforts such as those in the 1960s where about 70,000 whales were caught annually led to international action to regulate the commercial whaling industry.

However, it came too late for the Atlantic population of gray whales which have been hunted to extinction."

The fight against whaling - Fiji Times Online