Media Release
25 June 2009
The International Whaling Commission has
endorsed a five-year non-lethal whale research
proposal for the Australian-led Southern
Ocean Research Partnership.
Environment Minister
Peter Garrett said this is a major success
for Australia and a ground-breaking agreement
from the IWC that will direct future non-lethal
research activities.
“The Southern Ocean
Research Partnership is the first truly
international, multidisciplinary research
collaboration with a focus on improving
the conservation of whales,” Mr Garrett
said.
“So-called ‘scientific’
whaling adds nothing to our knowledge of
whales that cannot be obtained from non-lethal
means. We do not need to kill whales to
learn about them.”
“The Southern Ocean
Research Partnership will lead by example,
and though the collective efforts of the
many partnership countries that will research
whales all around Antarctica we will demonstrate
a new way of providing the priority research
results needed by the IWC.”
Non-lethal whale research
techniques include visual surveys to assess
abundance and distribution; satellite tracking
to gather information on migration routes
and feeding patterns, and biopsy sampling
for genetic analysis and information on
feeding ecology, nutritional condition and
reproductive status.
The Southern Ocean Research
Partnership forms part of the Australian
Government’s
$32.5 million commitment to national and
international non-lethal research and conservation
initiatives for whales.
“Today, Australia and
other IWC members have made significant
progress in reshaping the IWC to become
a science and conservation focused organisation,
and the Southern Ocean Research Partnership
is the key scientific program to achieve
this.”
"Our non-lethal
research partnership, along with our other
conservation focused initiatives, will demonstrate
a real alternative to the way the IWC has
functioned in the past.
“I look forward to the
results of this research, and invite all
member countries to participate and shape
future research activities,” Mr Garrett
said.
