Greenpeace activists hold demonstration to demand Mexican whale sancturary.
"The Mexican whale sanctuary is the biggest protected area in
Mexico and the
largest national whale sanctuary in the world. It occupies an
area equivalent to
half of Europe. All of these European countries would fit
inside: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark,
France, Germany, UK, Ireland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Norway Luxembourg," said
Juan Carlos Cantú, biodiversity campaigner of Greenpeace
Mexico.
The sanctuary would protect 21 species of cetaceans: the right
whale, blue whale, fin whale, grey whale, sei whale, Bryde's whale,
minke whale, humpback whale, sperm whale, pygmy sperm whale, dwarf
sperm whale, Baird's beaked whale, Cuvier's beaked whale, Gervais'
beaked whale, ginko-toothed beaked whale, pygmy beaked whale,
melon-headed whale, killer whale, pygmy killer whale, false killer
whale and pilot whale.
Greenpeace Mexico started the campaign to create the sanctuary
in 1999. More than 120 thousand signatures were collected in that
year and 125 Mexican and international NGOs signed a letter to the
Mexican President requesting the creation of the sanctuary. Over
the years, thousands of Mexicans sent letters, faxes and e-mails to
the Mexican president requesting the sanctuary. In 2000, a poll in
Mexico City showed that 84 percent of those polled were in favor of
the creation of the sanctuary.
One of the offshoots of the campaign was the modification of the
Wildlife Law in 2000 to forbid all whaling in Mexico for commercial
or subsistence purposes, and the listing of all cetaceans as under
special protection.
The decree states that the sanctuary will support the
maintenance of the environmental conditions that are necessary for
the biological functions of whales, such as reproduction, calving,
growth, migration, learning and feeding.
"The creation of this sanctuary is a victory for the
conservation of whales and for the Mexican people. The fact that it
was created during the week that the IWC meeting took place in
Shimonoseki, Japan is a message to the entire world that Mexico is
against whaling. This sanctuary should serve as an example for
other countries to follow so that eventually all the oceans of the
world become sanctuaries to protect all species of whales," said
Cantú.