Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - September 2003
Comments? send them to the editor.
Death by drowning: IWC must address 300,000 annual cetacean death toll
As delegates gathered for the 55th meeting of the
International Whaling Commission (IWC), the
World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has revealed
new research which shows that bycatch is killing
around 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises
(cetaceans) each year - more than 800 a
day.
The startling new figures come
from the first ever global estimate
of cetacean deaths from
fishing gear by Dr. Andrew
Read and Dr. Simon
Northridge, members of the
IWC’s Scientific Committee.
Bycatch is the single biggest
threat facing cetaceans, with
thousands of kilometres of nets
set in the world's oceans daily -
often invisible to sight and sonar and
too strong for small cetaceans to break free
of - that are fatal to small cetaceans. WWF is calling
on IWC member countries to support the cetacean
bycatch resolution, as well as a broader conservation resolution
- the Berlin initiative - which would address the variety
of threats to cetaceans, beyond commercial whaling.
Both of these will be tabled in Berlin and would make
bycatch reduction a conservation priority for the IWC and
encourage member governments to provide funding for
research and mitigation.
“This level of bycatch is significantly depleting and disrupting
many populations of whales, dolphins and
porpoises which will lead to the loss of several
species in the next few decades if
nothing is done,” said Dr. Read
from Duke University in the U.S.,
co-chair of WWF’s Cetacean
Bycatch Task Force. “Where
measures are taken to reduce
bycatch, mortality dropped
significantly. This demonstrates
that it is possible to
reduce bycatch while maintaining
viable fisheries.”
Based on advice from IWC’s
Scientific Committee - which every
year brings together the largest gathering of
top cetacean scientists in the world - the member
countries of the IWC have passed a number of resolutions
recommending actions to mitigate bycatch in previous
years. Not all member nations, however, have acted on
those recommendations, and cetacean populations continue
to be threatened. Contact: mdavis@wwf.org.uk.
See our home page on how to order your subscription. We regret we can
only accept orders from Canada and the United States.
