Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
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The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is a protected area of 50 million square kilometres surrounding the continent of Antarctica where the International Whaling Commission has banned all types of commercial whaling. To date, the IWC has designated two such sanctuaries, the other being the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
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[edit] History
The Whale Sanctuaries were put in place by the IWC to give whale species a chance to recover from the past century of over-exploitation, during which most whale populations had collapsed and some species were dangerously near to extinction.[1]
Establishment of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was agreed upon by the IWC in 1994, with 23 countries supporting the agreement, and only Japan against it.
The status of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary can be reviewed by the IWC every 10 years. During the 2004 meeting, a proposal was made by Japan to remove the sanctuary, but it failed to reach the 75% majority required (it received 25 votes in favour and 30 votes against with two abstentions). Anti-whaling nations accused Japan of using its economic power to encourage other nations to see its viewpoint and vote accordingly.
The Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established by the IWC in 1979, and has since been reviewed twice. Repeated proposals at the IWC to add a South Atlantic Sanctuary and a South Pacific Sanctuary have never reached the 75% majority needed to pass.
Japan has continued to hunt whales inside the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary using a loophole in the IWC charter that permits such hunting for the purposes of scientific research. Irrespective of Japanese government claims that the whales are hunted for strictly scientific purposes, the whale meat taken in the sanctuary has been processed for human consumption and sold onto commercial fish markets in Japan. The catch of the 2005 season (Dec 05-Mar 06) inside the sanctuary included 856 minke whales and ten of the endangered Fin whale. In 2007 - 2008 Japan planned to take 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales for research purposes, which has been met with considerable international criticism. Moreover, international critics indicate that non-lethal methods could be used to conduct the same research.[1][2]
[edit] Area
The northern boundary of the Sanctuary follows the 40°S parallel of latitude except in the Indian Ocean sector where it joins the southern boundary of the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary at 55°S, and around South America and into the South Pacific where the boundary is at 60°S.
