As mentioned in an earlier post, the annual International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting is underway in the Bahamas. Today, Japan and its allies lost a 32-30 vote on a motion to remove from the IWC's agenda the conservation of small cetaceans (smaller whales, dophins, and porpoises). Pro-whaling nations argued the IWC was created to regulate only the great whales (the large baleen whales and the sperm whale). The smaller species are not covered by the 1986 moratorium on whaling, but the vote means the IWC can proceed with discussing whether they need protection.
The BBC has a good article here about why Japan is pressing for an expansion of whaling: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5080508.stm
In other cetacean news, a beluga whale was found dead on the bank of the Tanana river south of Fairbanks, AK. Scientists are puzzled as to what drove the animal to push nearly 1,000 miles upriver from the sea. See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060616/ap_on_sc/inland_whale_5
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