Australian Whale Sanctuary
The Australian Whale Sanctuary was established in 1999 to protect dolphins and whales from hunting in waters within the Australian government's jurisdiction.
The sanctuary includes the whole of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone, which is the area surrounding the continent of Australia and its external dependencies such as Christmas Island, Cocos Island, Norfolk Island, Macquarie Island and Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and including the EEZ adjoining the coastline of the Australian Antarctic Territory which is only recognised by United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Norway.
The sanctuary is the scene of an ongoing controversy between Australia and Japan over whaling. In 2008 the Federal Court of Australia ruled it was illegal under Australian law for the Japanese whaling fleet to kill whales in the Sanctuary. In 2015 Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd was found guilty of wilful contempt of court and fined A$1,000,000.
