Sorrento, Italy— Using the most comprehensive methodology to date, Dr. Daniel Pauly, a scientific expert on global fisheries and marine ecosystems, today released a report which clearly indicates that whales are not competing with commercial fisheries on a global scale. Japan, Norway, and Iceland have been saying that whales must be culled to prevent the continued decline of global fish populations in order to justify their call to increase the present slaughter of hundreds of whales each year to thousands, with the meat ending up in markets and restaurants.

The report, funded in part by Humane Society International (HSI), the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), says that as the current crisis of global fish stocks worsens, the case has been increasingly put forward in international forums by Japan and the Scandinavian countries that culling marine mammals would not only resolve the problems of fisheries but also help alleviate world hunger. The results of the report, however, clearly show there is no evidence that food competition between marine mammals and fisheries is a global problem. Consequently, there is little basis to blame whales for the crises world fisheries are facing today. The report also concludes that reducing whale populations will not solve any of the urgent problems caused by a long history of mismanagement of the world’s fisheries.

The report, entitled “Competition between Marine Mammals and Fisheries: Food for Thought,” was produced by Ph.D. candidate Kristin Kashner and her advisor Dr. Pauly, a professor at the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia (UBC), in Vancouver. Dr. Pauly is the principal investigator of the Sea Around Us Project, based at the Fisheries Centre, UBC, which is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, and is devoted to studying the impact of fisheries on the world’s marine ecosystems.

The studies in the report show that most food consumed by marine mammals consists of prey types that fisheries do not target. Further, whales consume most of their food in areas where commercial vessels do not fish. The report concludes that it is the continuation of present fisheries management approaches and the export of fisheries products from developing countries – not whales – that endanger global food security.

“What whales consume is largely stuff that we do not catch in areas where we do not fish,” Dr. Pauly concludes.

Research from the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations confirms this fact. According to the FAO, the number of commercial fishers and fish farmers has more than doubled in the last 25 years. Fish stocks are being seriously depleted due to over-fishing by humans. The FAO estimated that 60-70% of global fish stocks require urgent intervention to control or reduce fishing to avoid further declines and to rebuild depleted stocks. Adding to this problem, about 20 million tons of fish are discarded by commercial fisheries each year as bycatch. The FAO estimated that a drastic reduction of at least 30% of world fishing capacity is required in order to rebuild over-fished resources.

“Whales were severely depleted during commercial whaling’s heyday and most stocks remain at a fraction of their historical numbers,” points out Patricia Forkan, HSI president. “To say today that whales are eating all the fish, when factory fishing vessels are vacuuming the seas, is absurd.”

The published report will be available at the 56th International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting and on The HSUS website at www.hsus.org/whales.