SA man gets top whale job
2006-04-10 13:32
Cape Town - Environmental affairs official Herman Oosthuizen has been appointed South Africa's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
An environmental affairs department spokesperson said Oosthuizen, who has studied marine mammals for nearly 25 years, was appointed to the position on Monday.
Oosthuizen was head of the scientific delegation and alternate commissioner at the IWC between 2000 and 2004, and acted as IWC commissioner at the annual IWC meeting in South Korea in 2005.
The IWC was set up under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling signed in Washington, United States, in 1946.
The IWC reviews the convention, providing for the complete protection of certain whale species.
It also designates whale sanctuaries, set limits on the numbers and size of whales which may be caught, prescribes open and closed seasons and areas for whaling, prohibits the capture of suckling calves and female whales accompanied by calves, and funds whaling research.
- SAPA