Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid

Brazil is going to support the creation of a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic to protect cetaceans from hunting and ensure their survival. Environment Minister Sarney Filho will uphold that when the International Whaling Commission votes on the issue on 24 October in Slovenia.

At the Museum of the Environment on Thursday (Oct 20), the minister received two boxes containing more than 800,000 signatures collected by Greenpeace and other organisations. He is going to present them at the international meeting.

“The Atlantic sanctuary has been proposed before, when I first served as minister, and we faced an overwhelming defeat. Then Brazil proposed again, and lost by five votes. So I think we should really take a stand. Every country in South America that has an Atlantic coast supports it,” Sarney said.

Leandra Gonçalves, a biologist at Brazil's SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation, said the ideia of a whale sanctuary has been advocated by the Brazilian government since 1999 to stop whaling in the South Atlantic.

“The sanctuary would be the best way to keep the ambitions of the whaling industry away from this silent threat. It would protect whales and dolphins as well,” she said.

The South Atlantic is inhabited by 51 species of cetaceans. In the Brazilian coast, according to Gonçalves, there are 33 species, including the humpback whale, the right whale, Bryde's whale, the fin whale,and the sperm whale, which gained popularity with Moby Dick. The blue whale, which is the largest species at 30 meters long, had a large presence on the Brazilian coast, but nowadays it is rarely sighted. The Environment Ministry reports that about 2.9 million whales were killed worldwide in the 20th century, 71% of them in the Southern Hemisphere.

In order to be approved, the South Atlantic sanctuary needs 75% of the vote from member countries of the International Whaling Commission. In the latest vote in 2014, the proposal garnered 69%. Now, it is expected that the required votes will be obtained at the upcoming meeting on 20-28 October in Portoroz, Slovenia.

The proposed sanctuary would cover the ocean waters between South America and Africa, reaching close to Antarctica. Currently there are two sanctuaries—one in the Indian Ocean, and another one around Antarctica.

Japan is the only country that practises whaling in international waters. Norway and Iceland allow hunting in their territorial waters. In Brazil, whaling has been banned since 1986, according to Greenpeace Public Policy Coordinator Márcio Astrini. He says the sanctuary will expand the protection area for these species, covering from the African coast to the South American coast.

Translated by Mayra Borges