#Gabon: Gabon: for strengthening the protection of whales in the South Atlantic

 

As 37 other countries before it, Gabon joined the project to create a sanctuary for marine mammals threatened with extinction.

Already committed to the protection of whales, Gabon will join the project to create a dedicated this iconic species sanctuary. Speaking ahead of the work of the 65th session of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Slovenia, this announcement will allow the South American to get his validation initiative. According to its proponents, this sanctuary should ensure "the protection of whales in the future, even if the 1986 moratorium on hunting was lifted or eased." Because even if there is no whaling currently in the South Atlantic, they "may face catch, accidents with boats and (...) chemical or ocean noise" .

Initiative of South American countries, this project is therefore to record the accession of South Africa and Gabon. If Libreville was already a member of the CBI, the country, thanks to the policy of Gabon blue program to preserve the coast, recorded in recent years a proliferation of humpback whales, probably due to the regulation of fishing and explained that Kumba Kombila expert Fishing the National Agency for national Parks (ANPN), which probably suggests the establishment of a study on the behavior of these whales, "There really has incredible observations, there are not enough studies to explain why they are as players, and why they can be approached and even come to the boat, "said he told AFP last year. Studies that would, among other things, recommended the sanctuary. What is all the more necessary that on September 9, a whale was found on a beach in Port-Gentil in Ogooué- Maritime where she died failed.

The resolution for the creation of a whale sanctuary will be subject to a second vote of the members of CBI. Already submitted in 2012, the proposal for a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic did not collect the required 75% of votes. To date, two other sanctuaries exist: one in the Indian Ocean (established in 1979), the other in the Southern Ocean (1994), where Japan still led campaigns in the name of science.

Established in 1948 with the objective to monitor and revise as necessary for the measures under the Convention that governs whaling worldwide, the CBI currently has 88 member countries.


                                                                              Gabonreview, jeudi 18 septembre 2014