Yesterday (2nd July), an item was posted on the BBC news web-site titled ‘Whale sanctuary bid for South Atlantic falls short’.
‘… A proposal to declare a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic Ocean has been defeated at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting.
Latin American countries argued that declaring a sanctuary would help whale conservation and whale-watching.
The bid gained more than half of the votes but fell short of the three-quarters majority needed to pass.
Observers noted that the vote was orderly and without rancour, in marked contrast with previous years.
Further votes at the meeting in Panama are anticipated, on issues ranging from subsistence hunting by indigenous peoples to whether the United Nations should be asked to take charge of whale conservation.
Eco-tourism
Marcos Pinta Gama, Brazil’s commissioner to the IWC, said he was disappointed by the result, but pleased that the vote had happened.
“We believe that the sanctuary is a very important initiative in order to ensure the protection of whales within the whole South Atlantic, to promote the non-lethal use of cetaceans and and benign research that’s important for conserving whales,” he told BBC News.
Whale-watching and ecotourism, he said, were becoming important industries for coastal communities.
“In many countries including Brazil, those activities are bringing in financial resources to local communities, it’s really expanding, and we think the sanctuary would very much strengthen this kind of activity in the region.”
The proposal covered almost the entire Atlantic Ocean south of the Equator, from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of South America.
It would have joined up with the two existing whale sanctuaries approved by the IWC, in the Southern and Indian Oceans.
However, delegations opposing the motion said there was no need for it …’
Read the item in full at www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18684015
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Posted on July 3, 2012
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