24/06/2005 – Five days
of gridlock and political posturing at the
International Whaling Commission stymied conservation
efforts and was unable to halt the advance
of Japan’s so called “scientific whaling”.
Despite Japan’s defeat on three major votes,
it has announced it will expand its whaling
in Antarctica and take 50 endangered fin whales,
50 humpbacks, and double its quota of minke
whales to 850.
“Despite cheers by some, and rhetoric in
the media, this is no great cause for celebration,”
said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s
global species programme.
“Japan continues to do as it wishes in the
name of bogus science and the world stands
by and applauds. It is time to reform the
IWC.”
Japan stated at the interantional whaling
meeting that it would win a vote of support
for its science next year. This is clearly
a sign it will continue to recruit new countries
to vote with it.
This year, the number of countries that voted
for conservation was neck and neck with the
pro-whaling bloc. Swing votes on key issues,
or further abstentions, would have given the
pro-whaling bloc the majority.
Japan tried to abolish the Southern Ocean
whale sanctuary, but was defeated. Brazil,
Argentina, and South Africa tried to establish
a South Atlantic Sanctuary, which was then
defeated by the pro-whaling bloc.
Should Japan and its allies finally achieve
the majority, there are clear signals that
next year they will abolish the conservation
committee tasked with looking at ship strikes,
bycatch (incidental catch in fisheries nets)
and other threats, including climate change.
They would also strike whale watching, sanctuaries,
and environmental and health issues from the
agenda.
This year, a decision was taken dealing with
the critically endangered West Pacific gray
whale, which is threatened by oil and gas
development off of Sakhalin Island in the
Russian Far East.
The threat of bycatch to the vulnerable population
of minke whales off the coast of Korea and
Japan was also addressed, as was the issue
of seriously contaminated gray whales in the
Russian Arctic.
Other agenda items included dicussion on
the IWC's revised management scheme (RMS),
or rules governing commercial whaling, should
it resume.
Japan’s flawed proposal draft proposal was
convincingly rejected. However, the IWC agreed
to continue talks on this issue before the
next meeting.
WWF welcomes a recommendation from several
governments to reform the IWC in the near
future, including a possible high-level ministerial
or diplomatic level conference on key IWC
issues.
“We call on the governments of the world
who are committed to conservation to help
strengthen and reform this institution,"
said Dr Lieberman.
"We are hopeful that a diplomatic negotiating
conference could finally close the scientific
whaling loophole, address other key conservation
issues, and catapult a treaty that was negotiated
in 1946 into the 21st century.”
