(Madeira, Portugal -- 23 June 2009) –A new report released today by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW -- www.ifaw.org) documents massive growth in the global whale watching industry over the past decade. The new report, Whale Watching Worldwide, comes as more than 80 countries debate the future of whaling and whale conservation at the 61^st annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Madeira, Portugal. 

(London, UK - 18 February 2009) - The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is urging Iceland to rethink its latest controversial whaling policy which could see around 250 whales, including an endangered species, killed cruelly and unnecessarily and cause damage to Iceland’s international reputation.

(Sydney, Australia - 3 February 2009) - A plan released today by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) confirms negotiations to undo the global moratorium on commercial whaling and allow the Government of Japan to kill whales off its coastline and in international waters.

(Yarmouth Port, MA - 26 January 2009) - According to secret documents obtained by the Washington Post, outgoing Bush Administration appointees have been engaged in intense, closed-door negotiations to undo the global moratorium on commercial whaling and extend unprecedented authorization to the Government of Japan to kill whales off its coastline and in international waters.

(Sydney, Australia – 20 January 2009) –
An independent group of Antarctic law and policy experts, convened in Canberra by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), has released a report detailing options available to the Australian Government to challenge Japan’s whaling program through the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS).

(Sydney, Australia – 8 December 2008) – Negotiations at a meeting taking place behind closed doors in England this week could jeopardise the worldwide ban on commercial whaling, according to IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare).

(Sydney, Australia – 17th November 2008) – The Australian Government should formally request the Government of Japan to recall its whaling fleet immediately, or take international legal action to stop the whalers, according to IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare).

(Sydney, Australia – 8 September 2008) –Noise pollution of the world’s oceans now poses such a serious threat to marine animals that urgent international action must be taken to counter it, a new IFAW report warns today.

(Sydney, Australia – 12 August 2008) – Revisions to the status of humpback whales on the world’s Red List of Threatened Species were announced today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) based in Gland, Switzerland. The humpback whale, depleted to very low levels by 1970 due to commercial whaling, has shown a substantial recovery over the last 40 years, thanks to international protection, and has moved from “vulnerable” to “least concern” on the Red List. Two subpopulations, the Arabian and Oceania humpback whales are still classified as endangered.