MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean 6.000 kmts coastline to become whales' sanctuary

Chile's coastline is to become a whales sanctuary announced on Wednesday Chilean president Michelle Bachelet in her annual state of the country address to Congress.

Chile has one of the world's longest coastlines, over 6.000 kilometers extending along the Pacific Ocean from 15 degrees latitude south to the Drake Passage in the extreme south of the South American continent. The decision which is supported by environmentalist groups and most of the Chilean population will effectively impede whale hunting all along Chilean waters and protect over half of the world's migrating cetacean pods, added Ms Bachelet. She also announced that Chile will continue to support the ban on whale hunting world wide during the coming International Whaling Commission meeting scheduled for next June. This despite the fact Japan, one the country's main trading partners, supports an annual catch for alleged scientific reasons. The sixtieth meeting of the IWC is scheduled to take place next month in Santiago. Chile has had a policy of protecting whales for decades and pods of different varieties have been sighted along its coastline.