From JUSTIN COOKE
The article ‘Whales win southern sanctuary’ (This Week, 4 June) states
that ‘in a report to the IWC’s scientific committee in Mexico. . . (I) .
. . accused Norway of applying the plan (the IWC’s Revised Management Procedure)
wrongly’, and cites some figures relating to the numbers of whales and
potential catch quotas.
The paper referred to is merely a technical re-analysis of data from
surveys of minke whales in the northeast Atlantic. It contains no accusations
against anyone, nor any reference to the RMP or to catches of whales, nor
any explicit estimates of whale numbers. The numbers cited in the article
come not from me but are inferences drawn by others from the results in
the paper. The committee identified some additional analyses that need to
be conducted before such inferences can be made. Until these are completed,
speculation about the outcome should be avoided.
Justin Cooke Centre for Ecosystem Management Studies Winden im Elztal,
Germany
