Brasília - The International Whale Commission, meeting in Sorrento, Italy, has once again voted down a Brazilian proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. According to spokesmen for the Brazilian Environmental Protection Agency (Ibama), present at the meeting, a group of countries joined Japan in rejecting the proposal because it wants to continue "scientific hunting" of whales. The vote was 26 in favor, and only 22 against, but the proposal needed a two-thirds majority to win.

In spite of the defeat, the fact is that this year the Brazilian proposal received more votes than ever. According to João Paulo Capobiano, the Ibama secretary for Biodiversity and Forests, the vote shows that Brazil is on the right track. For the past four years, Brazil together with Argentina and South Africa, have pushed for the sanctuary.

Brazil has opposed killing whales since 1987. The whaling commission has praised Brazil for its protection of whales and dolphins, turning the area of Abrolhos, off the coast of Bahia, into one of the most important jubarte whale grounds in the South Atlantic. Brazil has prohibited the use of certain types of sonar exploration in that region.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Caio d´Arcanchy
Translator: Allen Bennett
07/23/2004