Killer Whale Slaughter in Greenland

Since New Year's Day, movements of ice in Disko bay, West Greenland, have trapped around 100 orcas. Through WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, ACS has learned that about 24 animals have already been killed by local fishermen and hunters and fear that the slaughter will continue as long as the orcas are trapped.

Shrimp trawlers have shot and killed eight orcas in Qasigiannguit. They were taken to the harbor, flensed and sold on the local market. Eight more orcas have been shot and killed less than 100km away in the vicinity of Aasiaat.

The orcas' blubber or "mattak" has been sold to local people despite fears about high level of contaminants. Significant quantities have also been fed to some of the sled dogs.

The International Whaling Commission permits the Danish Home Rule Territory of Greenland to take an annual aboriginal quota of 19 fin whales and over 170 minke whales for local subsistence use. Hunters supplement this quota with large numbers of small cetaceans, including belugas and narwhals. At the forthcoming 54th IWC meeting in May 2002, Denmark will apply for a renewal of Greenland's aboriginal quota. ACS believes the Commission must closely scrutinize the extent to which Greenland 'tops up' its official quota with hunts of small cetaceans, which are not regulated by the IWC and may be both unsustainable and inhumane. It must also examine whether cetaceans are killed in Greenland, only for local subsistence use.

There is ongoing discussion as to whether the killing of orcas constitutes a violation of the IWC's rules. ACS believes that orcas are covered by the global moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the IWC in 1986.

"As the IWC imposes zero quotas on all commercial hunts of whales and no aboriginal quotas are awarded for orcas, we believe that the hunts of orcas in Greenland is in fact illegal", states Nicolas Entrup, spokesperson from WDCS. ACS and WDCS strongly urge the authorities in Greenland and Denmark to put an immediate stop to the kills.

ACS is calling on the public to help save these trapped animals. Please write to the Prime Minister of Denmark and Home Rule Premier of Greenland and ask them to stop the hunt immediately.

Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Prime Minister of Denmark
Christiansborg
Prins Jørgens Gård 11
DK-1218 Copenhagen K
Denmark
stm@stm.dk


Mr Jonathan Motzfeldt
Greenland Home Rule Premier
Greenland Home Rule
P.O. Box 1015
DK-3900 Nuuk
Greenland
govsec@gh.gl

• Sue Fisher, WDCS UK, + 44 (0)1225 334511/07762 546752.
  Email sfisher@wdcs.org
• Nicolas Entrup, WDCS Germany, + 49 89 6100 2393.
  Email: nentrup@wdcs.org