US negotiators at the International Whaling Comission are pushing for an agreement that would legalize whaling by Japan, Norway and Iceland in exchange for decreasing yearly quotas and a complete halt after ten years.
According to a New York Times story, the deal would include increased monitoring of whaling fleets and a whale DNA registry to track global trade of whale products.
Some anti-whaling activists are against the proposal, which they say is a backwards step from the 1986 moratorium on hunting whales. The three nations that continue to practice whaling do so under loopholes, and activists say there is nothing to stop them from continuing after the ten year period.
However, Monica Medina, the American delegate to the whaling body, said the deal is an improvement on the current situation. “If we can prevent thousands of whales from being hunted and killed, that’s a real conservation benefit. This proposal would not only help whales, we hope, but also introduce rigorous oversight, halt the illegal trade in whale meat and bring respect for international law back to the I.W.C.,” she told the NY Times. “Are we there yet? We’re not, and we have hard negotiations to go yet.”
Read the full story at the link below.
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