Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the regrettable votes cast by certain Caribbean countries for a resumption of commercial whaling at the 58th annual International Whaling Commission meeting in St. Kitts in June 2006.

Whereas whales have very low reproductive rates, which makes many whale species extremely vulnerable to pressure from whaling, and many whale species were hunted to near extinction by the commercial whaling industry;

Whereas whales migrate throughout the world’s oceans, and international cooperation is required to successfully conserve and protect whales;

Whereas, in 1946, a significant number of countries adopted the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which established the International Whaling Commission to provide for the proper conservation of whale populations;

Whereas the International Whaling Commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982 to conserve and promote the recovery of whale populations and later established the Indian Ocean and part of the ocean around the Antarctic as a whale sanctuary to further enhance the recovery of whale populations;

Whereas, at the 58th annual International Whaling Commission meeting in St. Kitts in June 2006, the Caribbean countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines voted with pro-whaling interests to support the resumption of commercial whaling by claiming the moratorium is no longer necessary, to allow Japan to hunt 150 minke whales, to remove conservation efforts directed at small whales and dolphins, and to implement secret ballots;

Whereas five of these six Caribbean countries, St. Vincent and the Grenadines abstained, also voted to delete the Southern Ocean Sanctuary;

Whereas a majority of tourists to these six Caribbean countries come from the United States, and the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to the resumption of commercial whaling;

Whereas thirty species of whale and dolphins can be found in the Caribbean, and commercial enterprises offering whale watching tours began in the Caribbean in the mid-1980s and has rapidly expanded;

Whereas the revenue attributable to whale watching far exceeds the revenue attributable to whaling;

Whereas, by supporting the resumption of commercial whaling, a country could adversely affect its international image and jeopardize its tourism industry; and

Whereas, in May 2006, Caribbean environmental leaders, whale watch operators, and tourism industry representatives met in Trinidad to voice their concern and opposition to whaling and to challenge their governments to change their pro-whaling positions: Now, therefore, be it