Posted on June, 21 2010

The Southern Ocean is critical to ensuring the recovery and viability of the great whale populations in the southern hemisphere.

It provides the feeding grounds needed to sustain most southern hemisphere great whales – which coastal communities from Australia to Latin America to Africa are reliant upon for livelihoods and income derived from whale watching tourism.

After rampant commercial whaling in the twentieth century brought most great whale species in the Southern Ocean close to extinction, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) established the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994, recognising the critical importance of protecting whales in this special place.

Since the inception of the sanctuary, threats to whales in the Southern Ocean have broadened to include climate change, ship strikes, the potential of over-fishing and acoustic and chemical pollution. If whales in the southern hemisphere are to fully recover, the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary must be fully respected by all contracting governments to the IWC.

WWF therefore urges all contracting governments to the IWC to reject any proposal that would set catch limits for whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Download the report: Save the Whale, Save the Southern Ocean 2.65 MB pdf