Sorrento, Italy, 20 July 2004: As the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) continues in Sorrento, IWMC called on member states today to quickly agree on a management system for minke whales, the most widely hunted and second most abundant whale species in the world.

The IWC agreed a conservative catch quota system for whales in 1994, known as the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), but has spent the last ten years discussing the overall framework – the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) – under which whales can be harvested. Whaling countries believe that opponents have deliberately prolonged the RMS discussions to delay lifting the moratorium.

Minke whales are hunted on a sustainable basis by Iceland, Norway, Japan and Denmark (Greenland). The world population of minke whales has been estimated at around one million animals, which is significantly higher than historic stocks. There are also estimated to be around 2 million sperm whales in the world. Whale counting methods tend to significantly underestimate actual stock numbers.

Eugene Lapointe, President of IWMC, said: “It should be possible for the IWC to quickly agree on limited catch quotas for ultra-abundant whale species like the minke. There is no question that minke whales are plentiful, that their populations are robust, and that small hunts can be easily sustained.

The IWC permits the United States to hunt up to 67 endangered bowhead whales each year from a population of around 9,000 animals but has been unable to agree to commercial hunts of minke whales. Ironically, the United States even went so far as to “certify” Iceland under its domestic legislation in June 2004 because it had harvested 36 minke whales in 2003 under a scientific research program.

Minke whales compete for the same food as other whales and some scientists believe that they may have reached their population limit and could be preventing other species, such as the endangered blue whale, from recovering to earlier stock levels.

Mr. Lapointe said: “If the IWC cannot even agree to managed harvests of ultra-abundant species like the minke, then everyone in Sorrento is wasting their time. The IWC has to demonstrate that it can manage whaling or countries will start walking away from it.”

For further information, contact Eugčne Lapointe
Florida: +1(727) 734-4949 or email: iwmc@iwmc.org