12 Apr 2017

Pacific pins hopes on new declaration to save whales

From , 5:03 am on 12 April 2017

Eleven Pacific nations hope that new measures will help to conserve whales in the region's waters.

At a meeting last week in tonga they signed the Whale Declaration.

The threatened and migratory species adviser of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, or SPREP, Michael Donoghue, told Sela Jane Aholelei what they hope this will achieve.

Tonga is one of the few countries in the world where it is legal for people to swim with whales, although some conservationists are calling for an end to commercial swimming with whales operations.

This photograph taken on August 4, 2008 shows a humpback whale diving near the island of Vava'u in Tonga. Photo: DAVID BROOKS / AFP