The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society says controversy is brewing between European countries as the International Whaling Committee prepares for a meeting that will decide whether or not the hunt for humpback whales is reintroduced in Greenland.

The decision will ultimately come down to a vote, but the Danish proposal to allow a quota to hunt 10 humpback whales for the first time in nearly 25 years, continues to create tension between European Union countries.

The only countries that openly support the proposal are the Nordic European countries, but all countries must vote the same way at the special meeting in order for the idea to succeed.

WDCS and WSPA have both questioned the IWC’s credibility if the organization grants Greenland the increased quota, and has urged European countries to vote against the proposal.

The two organizations have even combined to release a reported entitled Questionable Quotas, which challenges the humpback hunt and reveals serious failings in Greenland’s current subsistence whaling operations.

For example, the report claims that Greenland has never substantiated its claim to need hundreds of tonnes of whale meat and participates in “widespread commercialisation and sale” of whale products contrary to the IWC’s criteria, among other things.

Sue Fisher, of WDCS’s anti-whaling programme, is openly lobbying the IWC to drop the request.

“Greenland is not demonstrating that it needs more whales. The IWC will lose all credibility if it grants the Greenlandic proposal to resume humpback whaling,” she said. “It’s incumbent on European members to finally climb off the fence and block this proposal.”

Additionally, Claire Bass, of WSPA’s marine mammal programme, says the IWC needs to adhere to the decision to ban commercial whaling made in 1986 as she claims 25 per cent of whales killed for “aboriginal subsistence purposes” end up on supermarket shelves.

IWC European Union members will meet again shortly to discuss how they will vote on the proposal in March. The hesitation is generating worry among conservationists that the remaining pro-whaling majority will vote in favour of the proposal.

By Taylor Turner