By Vanesa Tossenberger
Researcher
Those of us who are part of Fundación Cethus were always worried about the fact that, at present, whales and dolphins in the world are still been killed, and that is why we work to present proposals and, to our understanding, some solutions that may help us to mitigate in some way, some of the threats faced by dolphins and whales in nowadays.
The strategies can be so varied, from advising competent authorities on the subject, to the development of different campaigns of awareness on the threats faced by cetaceans, educational programs, without forgetting, of course, one of our bases, the research.
As part of our work, the members of Fundación Cethus participate in different international fora where decisions regarding conservation or sustainable use of species are made. The last meeting that we attended, last June, was the 61st Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This body is responsible for regulating issues concerning catches and conservation of endangered species of cetaceans. It meets annually in different parts of the world. This year it was held on the Madeira Island, Portugal, and the next meeting will be held in Aghadir, Morocco. At these meetings the member countries vote and decide on possible management measures for different populations of cetaceans.
Today, despite the existence of the moratorium, some species of whales are still being caught under certain exceptions contemplated in the IWC founding treaty. This is a point of great concern to us. There are clear cases of necessity, but we can not conceive on these days, that animals are killed to be studied. Technological advances, new study techniques, etc., are a faithful reflection of that animal killing is not necessary to carry out studies. We can find thousands of examples showing that kill an animal is not necessary for its study. Many campaigns were conducted not only in our country but also internationally against the killing with these purposes.
The presence of Latin America in the IWC takes more and more prominence each time. Since 2005, our governments began to work together and to coordinate strategies for the conservation of cetaceans, as for our region the whalewatching tourism has a very high socio-economic value. Similarly, they seek to agree strategies for the conservation of cetaceans, as it was manifested in various statements. Once again, on last September, the Buenos Aires Group met in Buenos Aires with the aim of advance on this process of change within the IWC. We were part of this meeting and we are grateful for the given space to listen to us. We hope this will benefit all of us, and more importantly, our cetaceans.