whaling and whale conservation can’t go together
whaling and whale conservation can’t go together
We’re standing up for whales at international marine conservation conferences.
Problem
When the International Whaling Commission (IWC)—the premiere international marine conservation body—was founded in 1946, it had two purposes: to push for whale conservation, and to provide for “the orderly development of the whaling industry.”
But for us, the whaling industry is antithetical to whale conservation. The two things just can’t go together.
Solution
Anything less than an outright ban on commercial whaling is not enough. We’ve been engaged with the IWC for decades, and we have never wavered from that stance. Year after year. Conference after conference.
We have fought efforts to find loopholes and buy votes. With our support, the IWC adopted a commercial whaling moratorium in the mid-1980s.
As a result of our work, the number of whales killed for trade every year has dropped dramatically—from almost 100,000 per year in the early 1960s, to fewer than 1,500 in 2018.
Every problem has a solution, every solution needs support.
The problems we face are urgent, complicated, and resistant to change. Real solutions demand creativity, hard work, and involvement from people like you.