Strasbourg, 17/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Agadir next week, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki told the European Parliament, meeting in plenary in Strasbourg on 17 June, of the European Commission's determination to find a long term solution for the protection and conservation of whales. “Since the moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982” there have been years of debate over the “proper means to conserve, utilise and study whales. The EU is very committed to the protection of whales and has put in place legislation that ensures a high level of protection in this regard. Commercial whaling is not allowed in the EU”, she pointed out. In 2009, the Council agreed on the EU position for the next three IWC meetings:
The EU27 want an effective regulatory framework for the management and conservation of whales that would guarantee a significant improvement in their conservation status in the long term and place commercial whaling operations under IWC control. “We still view the IWC as a valuable instrument to achieve this objective at the global level”, Damanaki continued, giving her assurance that, despite the current effort being made to break the deadlock at the IWC, the EU is not ready to accept a final compromise which does not open the way to an effective framework for the conservation and management of whales and which leads to an improvement in their long term situation. “The EU wishes to keep the moratorium on commercial whaling, and put all whaling operations under IWC control”, the commissioner said, calling on member states to cooperate in order to ensure EU unity within the international IWC. (E.H./transl.jl)