66th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission

The 66th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) kicked-off in Portorož today, hosted by the Republic of Slovenia.

In addition to some 400 delegates from the IWC member states from around the world, many non-governmental organisations from the field of whale conservation are also participating. Morigenos, as a Slovenian non-governmental organization studying whales and dolphins along the Slovenian coast and in the northern Adriatic, is participating in various accompanying events such as the meeting of the IWC Conservation Committee, while the president of Morigenos Tilen Genov is also a member of the IWC Scientific Committee. As part of the meeting, Morigenos organised a photographic exhibition on dolphins in the Gulf of Trieste. This year the delegates received a special gift from Slovenia, a collection of special post stamps “Dolphins and whales of the northern Adriatic”, prepared by Morigenos.

This year's conference will be held in the light of the 30th anniversary of the ban on commercial whaling. The moratorium, which was adopted in 1986, is a great success story and has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of whales worldwide. It is therefore vital that the moratorium is maintained and that it is also fully respected. Other threats to whales and dolphins, such as ship strikes, by-catch, underwater noise, chemical pollution and marine litter, will also be at the forefront of the discussions.