Australian Whale Sanctuary

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The Australian Whale Sanctuary is a non-contiguous area overlapping Australian territorial waters. It was established in 1999 to protect dolphins and whales from hunting.[1] The zone includes the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is the area 200 nautical miles surrounding the continent of Australia and its external dependencies such as Christmas Island (in the Indian Ocean), Cocos (Keeling) Island, Norfolk Island, Heard Island and Macdonald Island. It also includes the EEZ around the Australian Antarctic Territory, but this is not recognised by all countries.

The Sanctuary is the scene of an ongoing controversy between Australia and Japan. Australia, opposed to whaling. In 2008 the Australian Federal Court ruled it was illegal for the Japanese whaling fleet to kill whales in the Sanctuary.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/cetaceans/sanctuary.html (accessed 16/1/2008)
  2. ^ http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/japanese-whaling-fleet-loses-in-court-at-sea/2008/01/15/1200159449793.html (accessed 16/1/2008

[edit] External links

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