Argentina and Brazil Promote Whale Sanctuary

Whales will be protected in a zone demarcated in the South Atlantic if a proposal sponsored by the two South American countries wins the approval of the International Whaling Commission. The goal is to prevent hunting by countries with commercial whaling interests.

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina and Brazil have agreed to throw their joint support behind an initiative to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, banning commercial hunting of these giant sea mammals in the area between the equator and Antarctica, and extending from the coasts of South America to Southern Africa.

The project, which has the backing of international environmental watchdog Greenpeace, will come up for a vote at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission this month - and observers say it has a good chance of passing. The Commission is made up of 41 countries, of which 35 have voting rights because they regularly pay the dues that finance the organization's operations.

The goal of the proposal is to face up to Japan, Norway and other countries with interests in the whale meat trade. The idea is to instead foment ecologically sound tourism around whale-watching excursions.

This non-traditional approach to tourism already has been developed extensively in Argentina's Puerto Madryn area, and shows great potential for the rest of that country's and Brazil's Atlantic seaboard.

Milko Schvartzman, of Greenpeace-Argentina, explained to Tierramérica that, according to the environmental group's calculations, today's whale populations are just five to 10 percent of what they were in the world's oceans two centuries ago, when whale hunts were limited to coastal areas.

To protect various whale species, sanctuaries have already been created in the Indian Ocean and in the Antarctic region. The demarcation of a new protected zone in the South Atlantic would allow the animals' protection along an important migrational route.

The whales spend half of their time feeding in the frigid Antarctic waters, and half their time along the coasts at warmer latitudes, where they reproduce.

The Argentine-Brazilian agreement had been delayed due to lack of support from Buenos Aires, and some reservations on the part of Uruguay. During the presidency of Carlos Menem in Argentina (1989-1999), pressures from Japanese industry proved stronger than that of environmentalists.

Only in the past two years have political conditions changed to favor the international accord. In May, Uruguay gave the deal its political support, and on July 13 Argentina's Foreign Ministry formalized its decision with Brazil to be co-sponsor of a project that is expected to benefit both countries - and, of course, the whales.

* Marcela Valente is an IPS correspondent.