25 Jun 2010

WWF Pacific spokesperson says impasse shows there's no support for whale kill

4:01 am on 25 June 2010

A spokesperson for the World Wildlife Fund Pacific says the break-down in talks at the International Whaling Commission in Morocco shows there's no support for Japan to kill whales in the Southern Ocean.

Delegates have this week been discussing a plan to end the moratorium, and instead make gradual cuts to the number of whales killed.

But negotiators say the talks failed because whaling countries and anti-whaling delegations could not find enough common ground.

Talks about the future of a whaling moratorium have now been suspended for a year.

The WWF representative in the Pacific, Kesaia Tabunakawai, says Japan must be stopped.

"For us, Fiji in particular, I think the good news has been the last two years the increase in the whale population that's coming back into our waters, that disappeared because of over harvest. And we'd like that to continue. And if this moratorium and this hold off in discussions until we sort it out is going to ensure that, then that is definitely what we want."