IWC Creates Conservation Committee

by David Milner

The International Whaling Commission (IWC), which currently is holding its 55th annual meeting in Berlin, Germany, has approved a proposal to create a committee responsible for "(organizing) future protection work on all species of whales and dolphins."

Among the threats to cetacean welfare that the committee will be called upon to address are entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, pollution and outbreaks of disease.

"Whales around the world are safer today thanks to this landmark decision," said International Fund for Animal Welfare President Fred O’Regan. "It marks a move from centuries of exploitation to a new century of wildlife conservation."

The so-called "Berlin Initiative" was sponsored by the governments of Australia, Austria, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Twenty-five of the members of the IWC voted for the proposal, 20 voted against it and one abstained.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.