Twenty thousand whales have been slaughtered by Japanese whalers since commercial whaling was banned in 1986. If we laid the dead whales end to end they would stretch from Boston, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine!  

The Japanese fleet has recently returned having killed a further 551 whales.  Norwegian and Icelandic fleets have also recently set sail. Norway intends to kill 1052 minke whales and Iceland, 40.  Click here to read about Norway’s politically driven whaling.

These hunts are in blatant defiance of world opinion and are carried out despite the fact that there isn't a strong market in either Iceland or Norway for whale meat, and the market in Japan is in steep decline.  In fact Iceland has recently exported 60 tons of fin whale meat, and Norway another 5 tonnes of minke whale meat, to Japan! To find out more about Iceland’s whaling threatens its whale-watching industry click here.

This year’s International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting starts in Chile next week and we know that Japan is going to propose a deal: they will offer to reduce their kills of great whales for so called scientific research if the IWC allows them to carry out legal whaling in their own waters.

We cannot allow this blackmail. We will not give in to Japan’s bullying tactics and thanks to your support, the WDCS team will be in Chile to try to block these proposals.

The whaling issue is a political and complex one, but looked at another way, it couldn't be simpler:
-  Whaling is cruel, unsustainable and unnecessary.
-  Whales are perhaps in more danger than they have been since the ban was imposed in 1986.
Whales are intelligent, sentient animals and they deserve and need our protection.
To support our campaign to stop whaling, you can make a donation today.  

Thank you,

The WDCS Team
www.whales.org

WDCS is the global voice for the protection of whales, dolphins and their environment.