Dominica: No longer supporting the whale-killing
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt declared that his government would no longer be supporting the whale-killing position of the Japanese government in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). He said that his government would be acting in his country's "national interest".
Clearly, Skerritt believes that Dominica's interest does not coincide with Japan's on this issue. He has good reason for that belief. Dominica promotes itself as "the nature isle" - the environment, including the sea and all that it possesses, is what the island has to offer to the tourist industry it's trying to develop. It would be incongruous if the island held itself out to be environmentally correct at home, yet supported whale-killing abroad. . . 
305 Whales Saved by Operation Musashi
Japanese Whalers "Enraged" with Sea Shepherd - The Institute for Cetacean Research has released their 2008/2009 kill figures for their whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean. They slaughtered 679 Minke whales of their targeted 935 and they only took one endangered fin whale from their targeted 50 whales.
Sea Shepherd this last season has saved 305 whales from an agonizing death from the deadly explosive harpoons of the Japanese whaling fleet. The Japanese Fisheries Agency is blaming the failure to reach their quota on disruptions by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
"This season's catch was reduced as a result of the interference by protesters," said Shigeki Takaya, a Fisheries Agency spokesman. . . 
"The world today will either be stepping forward into an era where conservation and the environment really matter, or it will be stepping back into the Dark Ages, where the people of the world think that the slaughter of whales using grenades, electric lances and shooting them with rifles is something that we should accept."
Ian Campbell, Australian Environment Minister - 57th IWC AGM, Monday, June 20, 2005
The Australian Federal Court has ordered a Japanese whaling company to stop killing whales in Australian Antarctic waters
"If all nations in the world took 1000 whales each year, the stocks would soon be exhausted. What gives one nation the right to a larger portion of the resources of the planet that all nations hold in common?"
Sir Geoffrey Palmer, NZ Commissioner to the IWC.
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 Many consumers simply will not want to buy fish from sources that are linked to killing whales |
Iceland Minister Warns on Whaling
REYKJAVIK, 20 May, 2008 (BBC) - Iceland's whalers have embarked on this year's hunt with the country's foreign minister warning that whaling may damage Iceland's "long term interests".
Boats left to begin the hunt on Tuesday after the fisheries ministry issued a quota of 40 minke whales for 2008. Officials say the hunt is sustainable and justified by market demand. The British government and several environmental groups joined foreign minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir in criticising the decision . . . 
Icelandic Humpbacks Monitored
REYKJAVIK, 1 December, 2008 - The Icelandic Marine Research Institute has been monitoring the movements of a humpback whale since early November.
It was marked along with other whales with a satellite transmitter in Eyjafjördur, north Iceland, on November 6 and has since made it to south Icelandic waters. Another humpback that was marked at the same time has remained in Eyjafjördur, in all likelihood feeding on capelin, Morgunbladid reports. The purpose with the project is to study the movements of baleen whales around Iceland and their travels out of Icelandic waters in the fall. Unlike other baleen whales in the North Atlantic, not much is known about the humpback. Its only known winter breeding location is in the Caribbean. Some of the humpbacks that reside around Icelandic in summer travel to the Caribbean in winter, but others appear to be of an unknown stock and breed elsewhere. A considerable number of humpback whales seem to remain in Icelandic waters in winter and are known to feed on capelin. The project is supervised by Gísli Víkingsson at the Icelandic Marine Research Institute. 
World's Oceans once Teemed with Whales
The oceans once teemed with many more now endangered marine mammals than previously thought, new genetic studies of whales suggest.
Whalemeat samples bought from a Japanese sushi market and analysed by scientists indicate that experts have seriously underestimated the size of the populations that roamed the seas before industrial- scale hunting began more than a century ago. The numbers of some species may have been 10 times greater than previously calculated.
The findings refute suggestions by whaling nations such as Japan that a resumption of hunting is justified by the increase of many whale populations beyond their natural size, the researchers said. . . 
'Secret' Dolphin Slaughter Defies Protests
Japan's annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins begins October in the traditional whaling town of Taiji on the Kii Peninsula of Honshu's Wakayama Prefecture. These "drive fisheries" trigger demonstrations, held under the "Japan Dolphin Day" banner, in 28 countries. The protests go almost entirely unreported in Japan, where only very few people are aware of what goes on.
The culling, spanning a period of six months, is officially condoned as part of traditional culture, and is described as "pest control" by practitioners. However, it is the inhumane way in which the mammals are killed, by stabbing and spearing them, that especially provokes such widespread revulsion. . .
Norway announces lower whaling quota for 2009
Norway has authorised its whalers to harpoon 885 minke whales in 2009, a quota sharply down from previous years in what animal rights activists saw as a sign of consumers' growing disinterest for whale meat.
According to Greenpeace, the whalers' difficulties in filling the quota illustrates the lack of interest for whale meat.
The Scandinavian nation is the only country in the world that allows whaling for commercial purposes. It argues the hunt is needed to stop the whale population from growing so large that it devours huge stocks of fish. They say the killing may increase three-fold, but blubber is often dumped because of limited export markets.

Whales killed annually since Norway resumed commercial whaling |
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