Sea Shepherd Responds to Faroese Government

The Faroe Islands goverment has been sending out the following letter lately in defense of their ongoing sport kills of pilot whales. Sea Shepherd responds....

(Sea Shepherd comments in parentheses)

WHALING IN THE FAROE ISLANDS & CALLS FOR A BOYCOTT OF FAROESE FISH

The Government of the Faroe Islands has noted that certain animal protection organisations putting pressure on retailers and suppliers to stop purchasing Faroese fish.

(They should more than “note” it: More than 20,000 retail outlets have been closing to Faroese fish products in Europe over the last year, thanks to Sea Shepherd’s call for a worldwide boycott. The effort has been joined by major corporations, including supermarket giants Tengelmann, Aldi, EDEKA, Karstadts, and Rewe.)

The information currently being circulated by these groups about the Faroe Islands and the pilot whale hunt is not only misleading but in many respects also quite untrue, and is designed to appeal to the emotions rather to present a balanced view of the issue.

(Note that the “misleading information” is never specified. We invite the Faroese home government to clarify and provide specifics.)

The Government of the Faroe Islands is confident that, with a full understanding of the facts surrounding this issue, businesses and consumers in general will not allow themselves to be pressured by such groups into taking a stand on an issue which has nothing to do with the products they purchase. We assume that the same standards of fair competition and trade will continue to be applied to products from the Faroe Islands as are the basis of all serious business dealings.

(The Faroese Government appears to be in denial of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the world’s population has a strong abhorrence toward whaling in the Faroes or anywhere else. Yes Minister, it is an emotional issue.)

The following note has been prepared to clarify certain aspects of the issue and to help rectify some of the most common misrepresentations about whaling in the Faroe Islands. Further detailed information is available upon request from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

(OK, let’s take a peek at your rectifications...)

1. WHALING FOR FOOD - NOT FOR SPORT The pilot whale hunt in the Faroes Islands is a local, coastal hunt for food. Both the meat and blubber of pilot whales caught in the Faroe Islands are fully utilised and shared among the residents of the district in which the whales are caught, largely without the exchange of money. The meat and blubber from pilot whales represents around one third of all locally produced meat consumed in the Faroes.

(The “food” you speak of is highly toxic and is damaging your children. See New Scientist article. We are in fact helping to save the Faroese from the consequences of their own traditions. Shall we also visit the issue of discarded carcasses left rotting or towed out to sea and dumped following many of the Grinds? “Largely without the exchange of money” is an interesting turn of phrase. We would augment it with the photographs our operatives have taken of whale meat for sale in many of your food markets.)

In the Faroe Islands, pilot whales are one of a number of locally available resources which provide a basis for local food production and thereby a greater degree of self-sufficiency. This is very important for our small and relatively isolated nation, the economy of which is otherwise highly dependent on the fish export industry.

(You are dependent on the fishing industry because it gives you one of the highest standards of living in the world. Your “fish export industry” produces millions of kroner in Gross National Product; your fishing fleet is one of the most modern in the world. Your substantial annual subsidy from Denmark also helps keep the wolf far from the door. You are far from being a poor Third World nation.)

These are 'traditional' activities in the sense that they have been practised for centuries and are based on age-old systems of knowledge and communal organisation which have been passed down from generation to generation, but which are still very much a part of daily life in the Faroes today.

(Eating whale meat is not only an archaic tradition, it is now also a very dangerous tradition. However, to the Faroese, who equate their “sport” with the bullfight in Spain, it is the love of killing that keeps the slaughter alive. Butchered whales are towed out to sea and dumped because the supply of whale meat after a Grind hunt often far outstrips the ability of the Faroese to consume it.

Sea Shepherd is accused of being insensitive to, and intolerant of Faroese culture. We accept that charge as valid. We have little respect for a culture that indulges in the wholesale infliction of pain and suffering upon defenseless whales. We are intolerant of slaughter, of extinction, and of human arrogance masquerading as tradition.)

In addition to whaling, the mountain grazing Faroese sheep are farmed for their meat and wool, seabirds such as puffins and fulmars are caught for food in certain seasons, and many people cultivate their own private crops of potatoes and rhubarb for household use.

(The issue is your whale-killing sport.)

2. A SUSTAINABLE CATCH

Long-term catch statistics dating back to 1600, as well as recent extensive research on the biology and population status of pilot whales, have enabled scientists to confirm that the annual average catch of c. 1000 pilot whales from a population estimated to number 780,000 in the Northeast Atlantic, is sustainable.

(First of all, the single study that produced this rough estimate of population size admitted to its own probable inherent biases. Second, the sustainability of cetacean massacres is a specious argument in today’s society; the population of the whales is immaterial. However, the elimination of entire whale pods – including lactating and pregnant females and calves – is nowhere else in the world touted as a “sustainable” practice. )

3. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Pilot whaling in the Faroe Islands is not banned by any international agreement, and the Faroes cooperate fully through the appropriate international scientific and management bodies on the conservation management and study of pilot whales and other marine mammals in the North Atlantic.

(The Grind as conducted is a violation of the Bonn Convention’s Agreement on Small Cetaceans and the Euopean Wildlife Convention governing humane treatment of animals. We are aware that you refuse to honor these conventions. Your determination to avoid joining the circle of civilized nations, except to avail yourself of the economic benefits deriving therefrom, is consistent but not commendable.)

Whales and seals are an important source of food for many coastal communities around the North Atlantic and elsewhere. The sustainable harvest of these animals, when managed on the basis of sound scientific assessments of the population and in accordance with modern standards of animal welfare, is fully consistent with international law and the principles on which the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources are based.

(If that’s the case, why have you fought so strongly to keep pilot whales off the managed species list of the International Whaling Commission? Wouldn’t they recognize your “aboriginal subsistance need” for whaling as they do for the Inuit? Or perhaps you’re concerned that they would recognize your communal activity for what it is... a national sporting event.)

4. ANIMAL WELFARE CONCERNS

The pilot whale hunt in the Faroes is a very dramatic and bloody spectacle.

(You’re absolutely correct. In fact, it is THE most bloody spectacle in the world!)

It is therefore understandable that it generates strong reactions when pictures of the kill are shown in the media or by campaigners, without sufficient explanation of the organisation, regulation and methodology of the hunt and its social and cultural context. There are very few forms of hunting anywhere in the world which are as public and easy to film and photograph as the pilot whale hunt in the Faroes.

(Is that why your citizens have threatened photographers who are taking pictures of the bloody mess? You don’t like the fact that pictures speak louder than words.)

All slaughter of animals for food, whether wildlife or agricultural livestock, results in blood, but this is not usually seen by the majority of those who consume the meat which is the product of such activities.

(A notably worthless argument.)

Despite appearances, the methods used to kill pilot whales are the most humane under the circumstances.

(And we will work diligently to change the “circumstances”. The killing method is inhumane

Frankie, why don't you answer the questions instead of running off on the Faroes?

I was recently made aware of this shocking and tragic barbarian practice on Faeroe Islands. As I see, this correspondence was run in 2006 - also 3 years ago. Any information on the current state? Did boycott actions bring something?
I think that this issue should be brought to the EU Parliament and criminal prosecution steps should be initiated against Faeroe Government for this barbarian practice. After all, Faeroe islands are still under Danish jurisdiction and Denmark is part of EU and as such responsible for this serious crime.
I personally have contacted Danish government (Minister of Environment) on this issue and am planning to activate official channels, as much as within my possibilities.
I see that Danes and Faeroe Islanders in many forums defend this tradition for food need reasons. Nevertheless, the fact that those huge amounts are killed, that not all meat is used (but left to rotten) and the fact that the way whales are killed is not painless is talking against this justification.
If any of you has some idea how to put addition pressure (support current activities) to stop this - please contact me over this portal. Petition, boycott are some of the ways, maybe you would have addition ideas.
Looking forward hearing from you.
Kind regards from Switzerland

I also never knew This is so sad. Unbelievable that this can happen
Wiki writes:
"As of the end of November 2008 the chief medical officers of the Faroe Islands have recommended that pilot whales no longer be considered fit for human consumption because of the levels of toxins in the whales."

Sort of like we now have to thank the toxins in the sea for making the whales unfit to eat. Crazy world!

And this it says on the Faroe Islands government page

"Pilot whales are taken for food in the Faroe Islands. Both the meat and blubber of pilot whales have long been and continue to be a staple part of the national diet. Catches of whales are shared largely without the exchange of money among the participants in a hunt and residents of the local district where they are landed. This also means that the economic value of pilot whale meat and blubber does not appear as a part of the GDP of the Faroes, but its significance can be measured against the economic and environmental costs of importing the same amount of food. An annual catch of 950 whales (the average annual catch over the past ten years, 1990-1999) is roughly equivalent to 500 tons of meat and blubber, some 30% of all meat produced locally in the Faroes.


The pilot whale hunt in the Faroes is, by its very nature, a dramatic and bloody sight. Entire schools of whales are killed on the shore and in the shallows of bays with knives which are used to sever the major blood supply to the brain. This is the most efficient and humane means of killing these animals under the circumstances, but it naturally results in a lot of blood in the water. It is also understandable that there have been many strong reactions to media reports and pictures of the hunt in other countries, especially in urban communities, where most people have never actually been witness to the slaughtering processes from which their own meat derives."

Now that the chief medical officers have decided their meat is unfit for human consumption one might have expected this cruelty to have stopped. But, according to the Faroe Island's government page: it has not.
http://www.whaling.fo/Default.aspx?ID=6767

Thanks, Copper, I got lot of information from the web-page you sent me, I already contacted few international maritime organizations, they are referring to; such as IWC and NAMMCO.

There are lot of contradictory statements in most of reports, related to humanity of killing process and compliance to international regulations.

There is even the detailed report (KILLING METHODS AND EQUIPMENT IN THE FAROESE PILOT WHALE HUNT NAMMCO/99/WS/2
(Translation from Danish*)), claiming that whales are dead within average 60 seconds using given method; further documents are referring to slaughter repeated not only on annual basis, but several times per year, and slaughter times are not selected according to the biologically most favorable moment for animal (not pregnant/lactating, not growing, etc...), but according to human needs and weather conditions.
Furthermore, it seems that Faroe islands are using their right as independent state, not to comply (only partly comply) to Bonn convention and IWC, as they are referring to “IWC not being competent for pilot whales, that are mostly being hunted” and “ASCOBANS –part of Bonn-Agreement/Apendix II not extending to Faroe Islands, only Denmark”, and “the population of pilot whales in the Northeast Atlantic which is exploited in the Faroe Islands meets all the criteria under the Bonn Convention by which a species is defined as having a "favourable conservation status"”.

One thing I haven’t found - YOU REFERRED TO THE TEXT, CLAIMING THAT WHALE MEAT WAS TAKEN OFF THE HUMAN NUTRITION, BASED ON ITS TOXICITY (PROBABLY MERCURY), BUT I DIDN`T FIND THAT TEXT ON LINKS PROVIDED, DID I OVERSEE SOMETHING? PLEASE ADVICE. Anyhow, I now contacted Faroe Prime minister, International Maritime Organization, and Danish Minister for Fishery, Environment and foreign affairs, IWC and NAMMCO, also contacting supermarket-chains who were boycotting whale-meat-sale in/since 2006. I will report on their feedback as soon as I get some.
Links:
http://www.whaling.fo/Default.aspx?ID=6770 http://www.nammco.no/Nammco/Mainpage/ContactUs/ http://www.iwcoffice.org/

If the mercury toxicity for humans can save whales from being further slaughtered, that would at least be one step to go!

'Hayden Panettiere, Dr. Roger Payne, and others call on the International Whaling Commission to End All Commercial and Scientific Whaling Citing Studies Showing That the People Who Eat Dolphin, Whale, and Porpoise Meat Are the Most Contaminated Humans on the Planet.'

MADEIRA, Portugal, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the opening day of the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), conservationists including "Save the Whales Again!" Campaign spokesperson Hayden Panettiere and renowned whale researcher Dr. Roger Payne call on the IWC to end to all commercial and scientific research whaling by Japan, Norway, and Iceland while also calling on Japan and the Faroe Islands to stop killing dolphins, porpoise, and other small whales citing human health concerns based on new scientific findings.


Since the 1986 commercial whaling moratorium, over 25,000 great whales have been killed by Japan, Norway, and Iceland while over 400,000 dolphins, porpoises, and other small whales have been killed by fisherman in Japan and the Faroe Islands, all for human consumption.


A recent report by Blue Voice shows that whale meat tested in Japanese markets was loaded with mercury, PCBs, Dioxin, and other contaminants. "BlueVoice.org has conducted numerous tests on dolphins and small whales taken in the brutal Taiji drive hunts," said Blue Voice executive director Hardy Jones. "We then went on to test people who eat dolphin meat and found levels as high as 89 parts-per-million - that's over 200 times the level allowed in food per Japanese health laws."


Similar studies have been done on Greenland Inuit natives who subsist on whale meat and blubber, showing that the Arctic has become one of the most contaminated places on Earth -- a place now where Inuit mothers are warned not to breast-feed their babies because high levels of PCBs, dioxins, and other industrial chemicals. According to a 2003 report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, a newborns' umbilical cord blood and mothers' breast milk average PCB and mercury levels are 20 to 50 times higher in remote villages of Greenland than in urban areas of the United States and Europe.


In November 2008, the Faroe Island's Chief Medical Officers, PalWeihe and HogniDebesJoensen, announced that pilot whale meat and blubber contains too much mercury, PCBs and DDT derivatives to be safe for human consumption. Their findings revealed damage to fetal neural development, high blood pressure, and impaired immunity in children, as well as increased rates of Parkinson's disease, circulatory problems and possibly infertility in adults.

In a written statement timed for the IWC meeting, actress Hayden Panettiere, a spokesperson for The Whaleman Foundation and its Save the Whales Again! Campaign said, "Having witnessed the brutal slaughter of pilot whales firsthand in Taiji Japan, I cannot understand how anyone in Japan, Norway, Iceland or the Faroe Islands could kill these harmless creatures knowing what they know, that these animals are loaded with mercury PCBs, and DDT and then sell their tainted meat for profit or feed it to their children." Hayden is asking supporters to sign their official petition at www.socialvibe.com.

Dr. Roger Payne, founder of Ocean Alliance, who just completed his long term global study found high levels of contaminates in sperm whales including mercury and extraordinary high levels of Chromium (Cr), a compound that has been linked to cancer in humans as was portrayed in the land mark lawsuit and feature film "Erin Brockovich." According to Dr. Payne's report, "The global mean Cr level in whale skin was 28-times higher than mean Cr skin levels in humans without occupational exposure. The whale levels were more similar to levels only observed previously in human lung tissue from workers who died of Cr-induced lung cancer."


"We have a severe problem here of a magnitude that we are now just beginning to comprehend but let me be clear," said Dr. Payne, "most dolphins, sperm whales, and porpoises swimming around in our oceans today are swimming toxic dumpsites, their meat and blubber so highly contaminated that it exceeds levels considered safe for human consumption. Since fin and minke whales eat fish, they too are almost certainly highly contaminated, therefore there is no sane rational for anyone to kill any of these animals for food."


One of the main topics at this year's IWC meeting is the future of the IWC and whether or not to continue discussions to reach a compromise or "package" as it being called that would once again legitimize commercial whaling.


"In the wake of all the scientific evidence and numerous government warnings about health risks associated with those who consume whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat, the only logical conclusion for the IWC is to end these so-called compromise discussions and to once and for all end the needless and archaic commercial slaughter of dolphins, whales, and porpoises worldwide," said Jeff Pantukhoff, executive director of the Save the Whales Again! Campaign and founder of The Whaleman Foundation.

SOURCE The Whaleman Foundation

Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) (1991)



The Parties,

Recalling the general principles of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, as reflected in the World Conservation Strategy of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, and in the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development,

Recognizing that small cetaceans are and should remain an integral part of marine ecosystems,

Aware that the population of harbour porpoises of the Baltic Sea has drastically decreased,

Concerned about the status of small cetaceans in the Baltic and North Seas,

Recognizing that by-catches, habitat deterioration and disturbance may adversely affect these populations,

Convinced that their vulnerable and largely unclear status merits immediate attention in order to improve it and to gather information as a basis for sound decisions on management and conservation,

Confident that activities for that purpose are best coordinated between the States concerned in order to increase efficiency and avoid duplicate work,

Aware of the importance of maintaining maritime activities such as fishing,

Recalling that under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn 1979), Parties are encouraged to conclude agreements on wild animals which periodically cross national jurisdictional boundaries

Recalling also that under the provisions of the Convention on the Conservation of European wildlife and Natural Habitats (Berne 1979), all small cetaceans regularly present in the Baltic and North Seas are listed in its Appendix II as strictly protected species, and

Referring to the Memorandum of Understanding on Small Cetaceans in the North Sea signed by the Ministers present at the Third International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea,

have agreed as follows:

1. Scope and interpretation

l.l. This agreement shall apply to all small cetaceans found within the area of the agreement.

1.2. For the purpose of this agreement:

(a) "Small cetaceans" means any species, subspecies or population of toothed whales Odontoceti, except the sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus;

(b) "Area of the agreement" means the marine environment of the Baltic and North Seas, as delimited to the north-east by the shores of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland; to the south-west by latitude 48° 30' N and longitude 5° W; to the north-west by longitude 5º W and a line drawn through the following points: latitude 60º N / longitude 5º W, latitude 61º N / longitude 4º W, and latitude 62º N / longitude 3º W; to the north by latitude 62º N; and including the Kattegat and the Sound and Belt passages but excluding the waters between Cape Wrath and St Anthony Head;

(c) "Bonn Convention" means the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn 1979);

(d) "Regional Economic Integration Organization" means an organization constituted by sovereign States which has competence in respect of the negotiation, conclusion and application of international agreements in matters covered by this agreement;

(e) "Party" means a range State or any Regional Economic Integration Organization for which this agreement is in force;

(f) "Range State" means any State, whether or not a Party to the agreement, that exercises jurisdiction over any part of the range of a species covered by this agreement, or a State whose flag vessels, outside national jurisdictional limits but within the area of the agreement, are engaged in operations adversely affecting small cetaceans;

(g) "Secretariat" means, unless the context otherwise indicates, the Secretariat to this agreement.

2. Purpose and basic arrangements

2.1. The Parties undertake to cooperate closely in order to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status for small cetaceans.

2.2. In particular, each Party shall apply within the limits of its jurisdiction and in accordance with its international obligations, the conservation, research and management measures prescribed in the Annex.

2.3. Each Party shall designate a Coordinating Authority for activities under this agreement.

2.4. The Parties shall establish a Secretariat and an Advisory Committee not later than at their first Meeting.

2.5. A brief report shall be submitted by each Party to the Secretariat not later than 31 March each year, commencing with the first complete year after the entry into force of the agreement for that Party. The report shall cover progress made and difficulties experienced during the past calendar year in implementing the agreement.

2.6. The provisions of this agreement shall not affect the rights of a Party to take stricter measures for the conservation of small cetaceans.

3. The Coordinating Authority

3.1. The activities of each Party shall be coordinated and monitored through its Coordinating Authority which shall serve as the contact point for the Secretariat and the Advisory Committee in their work.

4. The Secretariat

4.1. The Secretariat shall, following instructions provided by the meetings of the Parties, promote and coordinate the activities undertaken in accordance with Article 6.1 of this agreement and shall, in close consultation with the Advisory Committee, provide advice and support to the Parties and their Coordinating Authorities.

4.2. In particular, the Secretariat shall: facilitate the exchange of information and assist with the coordination of monitoring and research among Parties and between the Parties and international organizations engaged in similar activities; organize meetings and notify Parties, the observers mentioned in Article 6.2.1 and the Advisory Committee; coordinate and circulate proposals for amendments to the agreement and its Annex; and present to the Coordinating Authorities, each year no later than 30 June, a summary of the Party reports submitted in accordance with Article 2.5, and a brief account of its own activities during the past calendar year, including a financial report.

4.3. The Secretariat shall present to each Meeting of the Parties a summary of, inter alia, progress made and difficulties encountered since the last Meeting of the Parties. A copy of this report shall be submitted to the Secretariat of the Bonn Convention for information to the Parties of that Convention.

4.4. The Secretariat shall be attached to a public institution of a Party or to an international body, and that institution or body shall be the employer of its staff.

5. The Advisory Committee

5.1. The Meeting of the Parties shall establish an Advisor Committee to provide expert advice and information to the Secretariat and the Parties on the conservation and management of small cetaceans and on other matters in relation to the running of the agreement, having regard to the need not to duplicate the work of other international bodies and the desirability of drawing on their expertise.

5.2. Each Party shall be entitled to appoint one member of the Advisory Committee.

5.3. The Advisory Committee shall elect a chairman and establish its own rules of procedure.

5.4. Each Committee member may be accompanied by advisers, and the Committee may invite other experts to attend its meetings. The Committee may establish working groups.

6. The meeting of the Parties

6.1. The Parties shall meet, at the invitation of the Bonn Convention Secretariat on behalf of any Party, within one year of the entry into force of this agreement, and thereafter, at the notification of the Secretariat, not less than once every three years to review the progress made and difficulties encountered in the implementation and operation of the agreement since the last Meeting, and to consider and decide upon:

(a) The latest Secretariat report;

(b) Matters relating to the Secretariat and the Advisory Committee;

(c) The establishment and review of financial arrangements and the adoption of a budget for the forthcoming three years;

(d) Any other item relevant to this agreement circulated among the Parties by a Party or by the Secretariat not later than 90 days before the Meeting, including proposals to amend the agreement and its Annex; and

(e) The time and venue of the next Meeting.

6.2.1. The following shall be entitled to send observers to the Meeting: the Depositary of this agreement, the secretariats of the Bonn Convention, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on the Conservation of European wildlife and Natural Habitats, the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft, the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Landbased Sources, the Common Secretariat for the Cooperation on the Protection of the Wadden Sea, the International Whaling Commission, the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and all non-Party Range States and Regional Economic Integration Organizations bordering on the waters concerned.

6.2.2.Any other body qualified in cetacean conservation and management may apply to the Secretariat not less than 90 days in advance of the Meeting to be allowed to be represented by observers. The Secretariat shall communicate such applications to the Parties at least 60 days before the Meeting, and observers shall be entitled to be present unless that is opposed not less than 30 days before the Meeting by at least one third of the Parties.

6.3. Decisions at Meetings shall be taken by a simple majority among Parties present and voting, except that financial decisions and amendments to the agreement and its Annex shall require a three-quarters majority among those present and voting. Each Party shall have one vote. However, in matters within their competence, the European Economic Community shall exercise their voting rights with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States which are Parties to the agreement.

6.4. The Secretariat shall prepare and circulate a report of the Meeting to all Parties and observers within 90 days of the closure of the Meeting.

6.5. This agreement and its Annex may be amended at any Meeting of the Parties.

6.5.1. Proposals for amendments may be made by any Party.

6.5.2. The text of any proposed amendment and the reasons for it shall be communicated to the Secretariat at least 90 days before the opening of the Meeting. The Secretariat shall transmit copies forthwith to the Parties.

6.5.3. Amendments shall enter into force for those Parties which have accepted them 90 days after the deposit of the fifth instrument of acceptance of the amendment with the Depositary. Thereafter they shall enter into force for a Party 30 days after the date of deposit of its instrument of acceptance of the amendment with the Depositary.

7. Financing

7.1. The Parties agree to share the cost of the budget, with Regional Economic Integration Organizations contributing 2.5 per cent of the administrative costs and other Parties sharing the balance in accordance with the United Nations scale, but with a maximum of 25 per cent per Party.

7.2. The share of each Party in the cost of the Secretariat and any additional sum agreed for covering other common expenses shall be paid to the Government or international organization hosting the Secretariat, as soon as practicable after the end of March and in no case later than before the end of June each year.

7.3. The Secretariat shall prepare and keep financial accounts by calendar years.

8. Legal matters and formalities

8.1. This is an agreement within the meaning of the Bonn Convention, Article IV (4).

8.2. The provisions of this agreement shall in no way affect the rights and obligations of a Party deriving from any other existing treaty, convention, or agreement.

8.3. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall assume the functions of Depositary of this agreement.

8.3.1. The Depositary shall notify all Signatories, all Regional Economic Integration Organizations and the Bonn Convention Secretariat of any signatures, deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, entry into force of the agreement, amendments, reservations and denunciations.

8.3.2. The Depositary shall send certified true copies of the agreement to all signatories, all non-signatory Range States, all Regional Economic Integration Organizations and the Bonn Convention Secretariat.

8.4. The agreement shall be open for signature at the United Nations Headquarters by 31 March 1992 and thereafter remain open for signature at the United Nations Headquarters by all Range States and Regional Economic Integration Organizations, until the date of entry into force of the agreement. They may express their consent to be bound by the agreement (a) by signature, not subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, or (b) if the agreement has been signed subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, by the deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval. After the date of its entry into force, the agreement shall he open for accession by Range States and Regional Economic Integration Organizations.

8.5. The agreement shall enter into force 90 days after six Range States have expressed their consent to be bound by it in accordance with Article 8.4. Thereafter, it shall enter into force for a State and Regional Economic Integration Organization on the 30th day after the date of signature, not subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, or of the deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary.

8.6. The agreement and its Annex shall not be subject to general reservations. However, a Range State or Regional Economic Integration Organization may, on becoming a Party in accordance with Article 8.4 and 8.5, enter a specific reservation with regard to any particular species, subspecies or population of small cetaceans. Such reservations shall be communicated to the Depositary on signing or at the deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

8.7. A Party may at any time denounce this agreement. Such denunciation shall be notified in writing to the Depositary and take effect one year after the receipt thereof.

In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have affixed their signatures to this agreement.

Done at New York on 17 March 1992, the English, French, German and Russian texts of the agreement being equally authentic.



ANNEX

Conservation and management plan

The following conservation, research, and management measures shall be applied, in conjunction with other competent international bodies, to the populations defined in Article l.l:

1. Habitat conservation and management

Work towards (a) the prevention of the release of substances which are a potential threat to the health of the animals, (b) the development, in the light of available data indicating unacceptable interaction, of modifications of fishing gear and fishing practices in order to reduce by-catches and to prevent fishing gear from getting adrift or being discarded at sea, (c) the effective regulation, to reduce the impact on the animals, of activities which seriously affect their food resources, and (d) the prevention of other significant disturbance, especially of an acoustic nature.

2. Surveys and research

Investigations, to be coordinated and shared in an efficient manner between the Parties and competent international organizations, shall be conducted in order to (a) assess the status and seasonal movements of the populations and stocks concerned, (b) locate areas of special importance to their survival, and (c) identify present and potential threats to the different species.

Studies under (a) should particularly include improvement of existing and development of new methods to establish stock identity and to estimate abundance, trends, population structure and dynamics, and migrations. Studies under (b) should focus on locating areas of special importance to breeding and feeding. Studies under (c) should include research on habitat requirements, feeding ecology, trophic relationships, dispersal, and sensory biology with special regard to effects of pollution, disturbance and interactions with fisheries, including work on methods to reduce such interactions. The studies should exclude the killing of animals and include the release in good health of animals captured for research.

3. Use of by-catches and strandings

Each Party shall endeavour to establish an efficient system for reporting and retrieving by-catches and stranded specimens and to carry out, in the framework of the studies mentioned above, full autopsies in order to collect tissues for further studies and to reveal possible causes of death and to document food composition. The information collected shall be made available in an international database.

4. Legislation

Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 2 above, the Parties shall endeavour to establish (a) the prohibition under national law, of the intentional taking and killing of small cetaceans where such regulations are not already in force, and (b) the obligation to release immediately any animals caught alive and in good health. Measures to enforce these regulations shall be worked out at the national level.

5. Information and education

Information shall be provided to the general public in order to ensure support for the aims of the agreement in general and to facilitate the reporting of sightings and strandings in particular; and to fishermen in order to facilitate and promote the reporting of by-catches and the delivery of dead specimens to the extent required for research under the agreement.

Link to full text Bonn convention. Maybe some experts could assist....
http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri/texts/ migratory.wild.animals.1979.html

Thank you for all that information, Dr. med. Sandra KJ - It is very useful to know where to take our right from when approaching these issues.

As to your question about the toxicity, please look here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16159-faroe- islanders-told-to-stop-eating-toxic-whales.html

Thank you, Copper,

here the response from:
Danish Ministry for Environment:
"Dear _____, Thank you for your inquiry with the Danish Minister of the Environment, Mr. Troels Lund Poulsen, regarding whaling. As the matter belongs under the Danish Foreign Ministry, your inquiry has been forwarded there." By the way, I copied them directly, too.

from:
IMO:
"IMO is not invovled in regulating the killing of any animal.

try WWF for advice?

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Avenue du Mont-Blanc 27
1196 Gland
Switzerland

Tel: +41 22 364 91 11
Fax: +41 22 364 4892
Web: www.panda.org"