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CNW- The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has denied its representatives on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are assisting with efforts to repeal the whaling ban.
Whaling is the process of hunting whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution
In a statement released yesterday, the government said, “Cabinet has NOT agreed to repeal the moratorium on whale hunting and is unaware of any statement to the contrary.”
The government of Antigua and Barbuda issued the statement after international media outlets and marine charities reported that Antigua and Barbuda had proposed the repeal of the moratorium on whaling alongside Japan and several other nations.
Marine wildlife protection charity, OceanCare, claimed Antigua and Barbuda and countries which support the lifting of the ban proposed that whales be seen as a food source to secure food and nutritional security.
OceanCare’s Director of International Relations, Nicolas Entrup, remarked, “Instead of wasting precious time with decade-old debates about fabricated scenarios such as sustainable whaling and false solutions to ‘food security,’ the IWC should urgently address the most pressing issues: climate change and plastic pollution.”
“Both the IWC’s Scientific Committee and Conservation Committee have performed exemplary work in highlighting these issues and pointing the path toward their resolution. This spirit of the Florianópolis Declaration is the path forward for a modern IWC focused on conservation.”
Ambassador Lionel Hurst, chief of staff for the Prime Minister’s Office, indicated during today’s post-cabinet media conference that 48 countries had proposed the resolution, which is always on the agenda for the IWC’s annual convention.
Hurst said Antigua and Barbuda usually stands “on the right side of history” when it comes to environmental matters”
The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969, and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s.
Albania's Hunting Ban: Birds and Mammals Get a Two-Year Break
Vast numbers of European birds and other wildlife will be spared from illegal slaughter, thanks to a two-year moratorium on all hunting enacted by the government of Albania.
The Balkan country, which lies along a major migratory flyway, encompasses wetlands and other habitats that provide crucial refueling stops for millions of migrating birds. But poor law enforcement, a surge in gun ownership, and an influx of foreign hunters had made Albania essentially a year-round shooting range. Targets were not just game species but also eagles, cranes, shorebirds, and even small songbirds.
"Albania was a death trap for migrating birds," said Gabriel Schwaderer, executive director of the conservation organization EuroNatur.
It wasn't just birds that suffered, according to Schwaderer. To study the critically endangered Balkan lynx, EuroNatur set up automatic cameras in mountainous areas, documenting all passing animals. Mammals such as roe deer and chamois that should have been recorded in significant numbers were rarely spotted. "This shows that game animals are in very, very low densities," Schwaderer said.
The new law, approved on January 30, suspends all hunting licenses and use of hunting areas for two years. The government will use this hiatus to study ways to reform conservation regulations and control what had become almost complete lawlessness. Hunters in Albania have long been unafraid to shoot anything that came within range—even in national parks, where wealthy hunters, the majority of them from Italy, bribed poorly paid rangers to serve as guides.
Election, Exposure Prompt Action
While many Albanians, including a substantial number of hunters, realized that the situation had to change, the government showed no interest in strengthening conservation laws, or even in enforcing the regulations that were in place. But elections last June brought a new party to power, with government ministers more sympathetic to conservation.
Spase Shumka, a board member of the environmental group Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania, said an article by writer Jonathan Franzen that appeared in the July 2013 issue of National Geographic ("Last Song for Migrating Birds") "very much had an effect" on the debate over hunting.
"The National Geographic story served as a main reference," Shumka said. "People distributed the article in the ministries, and it was received very positively. It fit in very well with the transitional government period."
Shumka said he and others in Albania "are optimistic that things will change positively because, for the first time, in this law we have effective integration of enforcement."
Before, responsibility for regulating hunting fell solely on the Ministry of Environment, which had little power. "People who were caught illegally hunting or camping or cutting wood in a protected area would be fined, but only one in a hundred would actually pay the fine," Shumka said. "Now the laws will be enforced in cooperation with the state police, which is very important. It's the only authority which has power."
In addition, the law implementing the hunting moratorium requires the cooperation of the Ministry of Finance. "This will mean additional funding for the Inspectorate of Environment," Shumka said.
"It's really an impressive and groundbreaking decision that Albania took," Schwaderer said. "I can imagine that some of the hotel owners are not so happy, because probably they will have fewer visitors, especially hunters from Italy. But on the other side, they have a great opportunity, because only if they stop this crime will they receive bird-watchers and other visitors interested in ecotourism."
Albania, new law to extend the hunting ban by 5 years
After the opening of the last few days, the Tirana government has started the process for the regulatory text: it could come into force starting from September 2016.
The news on international hunting concerns again theAlbania: a few days ago there was talk of a possible stop to the ban imposed by Tirana to hunting in the Balkan nation, but now the local media have explained how the government is preparing a new law to extend this ban by another five years. According to reports from BIRN Albania, the Ministry of the Environment has already prepared the draft of the legislative text, which will be examined by Parliament next July. So the new provision would come into force from September 2016. The last two years have been characterized by a moratorium regarding this hunting ban and animal rights activists have claimed the excellent results achieved in this period.
However, it must be said that the law has not stopped poachers, with forms of illegal hunting reported on several occasions. Furthermore, BIRN referred to Italian hunters, the main recipients of the ban, given that with the latter it was decided to put a stop to their travels in Albania to trade some specific birds, such as the lark and the rock partridge. L'Albanian Ornithological Society estimated about 170 thousand birds slaughtered every year, a phenomenon that was wanted to be countered in every way. In 2014, the government spoke of a drastic but necessary measure to protect animals in the first place the most endangered species such as the brown bear and the eagle.
Illegal hunting was favored by unclear rules and the moratorium and the new law were designed to fill the gaps. In that case 75 shotguns were registered across the country, without neglecting automatic weapons. The heads of the Albanian hunting associations also showed some photos in which Italian hunters were immortalized with freshly killed ducks and other protected animals: in particular, people from Sardinia were recognized.
The hunters of the Balkan state protested for a long time, asking more severe criminal penalties against poaching and a 4-year moratorium for foreigners. Local corruption and various stratagems designed to import the protected fauna have undoubtedly taken care of the illegal situations. Furthermore, often there was a lot of legislative confusion and the clarifications were not up to par. From the month of April that has just begun to September, there are five months left, a rather long period of time that can make it possible to avoid the mistakes made in the past and not to fuel other controversies after those of recent years.
