History of Whales in Australia
Australia has a long history with whales. From the days when people hunted them for their oil and blubber to the day in 1979 when the Australian Government banned whaling in favor of whale protection.
At the time the ban was introduced almost all whale species had been hunted to the brink of extinction.
In the 25 years since, the numbers of whales swimming along our coastlines has increased slowly, allowing more Australians to enjoy the thrill of whale watching. This has seen a dramatic shift in people’s attitude towards whales with Australians today preferring to watch and learn about whales rather than hunt them.
It has become widely acknowledged that whales are worth more alive than dead with whale watching proving to be a booming economic industry in Australia. A report commissioned by IFAW has shown that Australians are falling in love with whales.
While we celebrate the annual migration of whales past our coast, sadly whales are far from safe once they leave our waters. The threats to their survival still loom with countries such as Japan, Norway and Iceland continuing to kill whales under the guise of so called 'scientific whaling'.
A new report from IFAW, 'Slaughtering Science: the case against Japanese whaling in the Antarctic' describes Japan's whaling program and IFAW's work to bring it to an end.
