Mexico becomes world's largest whale sanctuary
Date: 27-May-02
Country: MEXICO
The office of Mexican President Vicente Fox said the "Area of Refuge" accord would provide added protection in areas such as reproduction, growth and migration to 39 whale species that spend time in Mexican waters.
The accord was signed at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Shimonoseki, Japan.
"We have the largest national protected area for whales in the world," said Juan Carlos Cantu, the coordinator of the Greenpeace Mexico biodiversity campaign.
"We're talking about nearly 3 million square kilometers (1.15 million square miles) of the Pacific ocean and the Atlantic ocean and the Caribbean," he added, speaking on national radio.
Some 17,000 Gray whales come into Mexican waters each year, many of them using the warm waters as a breeding ground.
Since 1933, Mexico has been active at international forums to protect whales. Early this year it established penalties for whaling in its waters.
"No marine mammal, regardless of species, can be hunted for commercial uses or for subsistence," Fox's office said in a statement, adding that only accredited institutions would be allowed to capture whales for scientific or educational purposes.
The International Whaling Commission wound up an acrimonious annual meeting last week after rejecting both a bid by native peoples to keep hunting whales and Japan's wish to resume commercial hunts.
The five-day meeting in the old Japanese whaling city of Shimonoseki hardened battle lines in the long-running feud between those who want to hunt whales for commercial and traditional reasons and those who want to protect them.
