Prime Minister Blair speaks out for whale welfare
May 28, 2007
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) congratulates Prime Minister Tony Blair following his recent statements in favour of a continued ban on whaling. The Prime Minister’s statement was addressed to the International Whaling Commission at its fifty ninth meeting in Anchorage, Alaska today.
The statement comes after thousands of WSPA's supporters called on Tony Blair to exit the office of Prime Minister with a legacy of helping to end the suffering of whales.
In his statement the Prime Minister voiced his concern at the continued slaughter of thousands of whales despite an international moratorium on whaling being in place. He went on to cite both conservation and animal welfare as the reasons why the ban should remain in place and be fully observed by all members of the IWC.
The Prime Minister said: "We have been and will remain strong advocates for a moratorium on commercial whaling." He added that whaling resulted in unavoidable levels of suffering and that whalewatching was a more appropriate and sustainable use of whales.
WSPA’s Director of Programmes Leah Garces welcomed the statement from Tony Blair. “The UK government has always been a strong ally of the whales within the IWC and we are delighted that this has been reflected so strongly by the Prime Minister himself. The future of whales around the world hangs in the balance with thousands of whales being killed using cruel and inhumane methods. High level support such as this is what is needed if the protection of these magnificent animals is to remain a priority for governments around the world."
The Prime Minister's statement followed the whale killing methods agenda item on the opening day of the meeting which saw anti-whaling countries slam the lack of transparency on welfare issues.
This comes at a time when whaling nations are refusing to submit full information to the IWC on the way in which they are killing whales. Since 2003, Norway, Iceland and Japan have failed submit welfare information on their hunts, despite the call to in a resolution passed in 1999 and 2004. Whaling nations have now begun a new tactic to submit such information to a closed forum, NAMMCO, which is essentially a whalers‘ club.
“Scientific evidence shows us that there is no humane way to kill a whale at sea and little market for this meat. It is totally unacceptable the whaling nations refuse to give fully data to this forum on how they are killing whales. It begs the question, what are they hiding?” said Garces.