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Sustainable
eNews |
August 2002 |
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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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Newly-Established
Bequian Whalers' Association
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In May 2002, whalers, together with a number of
enthusiastic supporters of Bequian whaling cultural heritage, formed the
Bequian Indigenous Whalers' Association. The objectives of the Association
are to harmonize relationships between the whalers and the community, to be
an informative and educational force in keeping the island whaling cultural
heritage alive in the school system, to improve the shore station, to
insure improved processing of the whales, and to enhance the historical
cultural sites associated with the whaling industry.
Whalers on the island of Bequia, in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, hunt humpback whales and short-finned pilot whales,
locally known as "blackfish". Humpbacks are hunted from
eight-metre open boats each with a crew of six, and pilot whales from
smaller boats each with a four-man crew. The humpback season beings in
February and continues through May after which the whales leave the region
on their northward migration. In 1987, the International Whaling Commission
(IWC) introduced a quota of three humpbacks per season, and this was
reduced to two humpbacks in 1993. At the 2002 IWC meeting, the quota was
increased to four whales. 
(Source: INWR Digest July
2002, ISSN 1192-3539)
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