IWC gives indigenous Greenlanders go-ahead to kill hundreds of whales
Green groups horrified by decision to permit indigenous slaughter of 200 animals a year for food, amid fears much of the meat is being sold
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) gave indigenous Greenlanders the go-ahead to kill hundreds of whales, horrifying green groups, even as Iceland came under fire for contravening a ban on commercial hunting.
The commission's 65th meeting started in Slovenia on Monday with a 46-11 vote, with three abstentions, in favour of Greenland's proposed 207 kills per year from next year to 2018.
The issue was an agenda-topping item, with conservationists fearing much of the meat meant for indigenous subsistence was actually being sold.
"More than 800 whales were condemned today just in the Greenland vote," Wendy Higgins of the Humane Society International said on the first day of the controversy-laden gathering in Slovenia.
Greenland's hunters will be able to take 176 minke, 19 fin, 10 humpback and two bowhead whales per year.
The European Union and United States, having voted in favour of Greenland's quota, meanwhile led a call on Iceland to halt its commercial whaling programme, to which they expressed "strong opposition".
Australia, Brazil, Israel, Mexico and New Zealand also signed the protest letter, which the EU's executive commission said was delivered to Iceland's government. "We are not convinced that Iceland's harvest and subsequent trade of fin whales meets any domestic market demand or need; it also undermines effective international cetacean conservation efforts," according to the text, made public in Brussels.
