In a coordinated protest against the International Whaling Commission (IWC)’s proposal to remove the existing moratorium on commercial whaling, as many as 16 demonstrations were held on Sunday at Santa Monica and other coastal communities in California. The IWC proposal also includes setting of legal quotas for Japan, Norway and Iceland - the three countries which still hunt whales.

The protestors, who describe themselves as ‘whale-huggers’, essentially re-commenced their earlier crusade, which they felt they had won, and revised their familiar slogan “Save the Whales Again.”

Over 50 environmentalists and animal rights activists, who Sunday gathered in San Diego to voice their dissent against the resumption of worldwide commercial whaling proposal, signed on a petition urging President Barack Obama to direct the US delegation to the IWC for backing the continuance of the 1986-implemented ban on commercial whaling.

Though the IWC proposal aims at reducing the number of whales killed over a decade, environmentalists and animal right activists opine that the proposal will legitimize the hunting of the endangered species and reward rogue actions.

According to the environmentalists, the commercial whaling ban has resulted in a decisive feat – bringing about a reduction in the number of whale killings from 38,000 a year to fewer than 2,000 –, and they do not want the achievement to be weakened with the resumption of worldwide commercial whaling.