"RIGHT WHALES TEETER ON THE BRINK"

28 NOVEMBER 2001: NEW SCIENTIST online:
The decline of the highly endangered northern right whale could be halted by saving just two or three female whales a year, scientists have calculated.

The whale is one of the rarest mammals in the world and has been protected for more than 60 years since it was hunted almost to extinction. Fewer than 300 of these highly sociable animals are thought to exist in their north Atlantic habitat.

Full story.

JAPAN SAYS "IT'S SAFE TO HARVEST MINKE WHALES FOR A CENTURY"

4 OCTOBER 2001: BBC Online (again!)
"Japan says it could kill far more whales in the Antarctic than at present without risking their extinction. It says it could safely kill about four times more minke whales annually for a century. But extending the kill must wait for the end of the present global moratorium on commercial whaling. Until it does end, Japan says, it has no plans to kill more whales." With pictures and story links.

MEDITERRANEAN WHALE AND DOLPHIN SANCTUARY

28 SEPTEMBER 2001: Reuters
"A treaty creating a sanctuary for up to 45,000 whales and dolphins came into effect on Friday as Italy followed France and Monaco in giving the go-ahead for a Mediterranean nature reserve."

For background on this sanctuary, see the WWF story from February 2001, and the timeline history and map at the Tethys Research Institute. Well worth a further search, too, for some stories on other sanctuaries (as below).

MINISTRY TO EXAMINE RISK OF EATING CONTAMINATED WHALES

5 SEPTEMBER 2001: Japan Times Online
"The health ministry has decided to examine the health risks associated with consuming contaminated whale meat from small whales captured along Japan's coast...." More on this.... Japan Times Online a good place to look for updates on what's happening in Japan; for example, try a search on "whale" to get the latest news.

WHALE SANCTUARIES PLAN DEFEATED AGAIN

25 JULY 2001: BBC Online
"Proposals to create new whale sanctuaries were again vetoed on Tuesday, as pro- and anti-whaling advocates traded accusations at the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting." With file pictures and story links.

WHALING BAN SURVIVES FOR ANOTHER YEAR

26 JULY 2001: BBC Online
"The ban on commercial whaling, imposed in 1985, is to remain in force for another year at least.

"The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has put off a decision which could have opened the way for the ban's lifting." With new file pictures and additional story links.

ECO NEWSLETTERS DIRECTLY FROM THE IWC 23-27 JULY 2001

ECO is the daily newsletter reporting the happenings at theIWC, created by a number of organizations and put onthe web by the Earth Island Institute International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP).

Five issues of the ECO newsletter (HTML version) were published during the recent conference. They are rather strident and pointed, and also pretty funny in a cynical-money-politics kind of way. Go to the IMMP page and you'll see their links immediately.

"FOR WATCHING OR EATING" — COMMENTARY FROM THE ECONOMIST

"26 JULY 2001: The battle for the whales resumed on July 23rd at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in London. Predictably, the gap between the killers and the savers failed to narrow. On one side are Japan, Norway and Iceland and their followers, which argue for an end to the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

. . . "Masayuki Komatsu, the head of Japan's fisheries agency, admitted just before the opening of the IWC conference that Japan had been using international aid to persuade some Caribbean countries to take its side on whaling issues. About a third of the IWC's 37 voting members appear favourable to Japan and Norway.

. . .

"Mr Komatsu's reference to minke whales as “cockroaches of the ocean” has not helped either." More...