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Wherever whaling has been practised it has devastated whale populations.
When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed in 1946, its preamble noted that 'the history of whaling has seen overfishing of one area after another and of one species of whale after another to such a degree that it is essential to protect all species of whales from further overfishing'.
However, despite this clear recognition of the problem the IWC was unable to stop it, instead presiding over the decimation of species after species. It is still not known if some species will ever recover, even after decades of protection.
In an attempt to bring back commercial whaling, Japan has been conducting an ambitious vote buying scheme, despite a reduction in Japanese appetites for whale meat and the financial backers of the whaling businesses pulling out.
Greenpeace has been opposing commercial whaling since 1975 when we carried out a direct action at sea against Soviet whalers.
Since then we have also carried out actions against whalers from Australia, Brazil, Iceland, Peru, Japan, Norway and Spain. Many of these countries now oppose whaling, only Iceland, Japan and Norway continue to hunt whales.
When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed in 1946, its preamble noted that 'the history of whaling has seen overfishing of one area after another and of one species of whale after another to such a degree that it is essential to protect all species of whales from further overfishing'.
However, despite this clear recognition of the problem the IWC was unable to stop it, instead presiding over the decimation of species after species. It is still not known if some species will ever recover, even after decades of protection.
In an attempt to bring back commercial whaling, Japan has been conducting an ambitious vote buying scheme, despite a reduction in Japanese appetites for whale meat and the financial backers of the whaling businesses pulling out.
Greenpeace has been opposing commercial whaling since 1975 when we carried out a direct action at sea against Soviet whalers.
Since then we have also carried out actions against whalers from Australia, Brazil, Iceland, Peru, Japan, Norway and Spain. Many of these countries now oppose whaling, only Iceland, Japan and Norway continue to hunt whales.