Japan
poised to control the International Whaling Commission
13 June 2006 - Frigate Bay,
Saint Kitts and Nevis — The international body
charged by the UN with protecting the whales is
about to be taken over by the world's most consistently
and aggressively pro-whaling government. How could
this happen? In an environmentally aware world,
why are we seeing a roll back of 20 years of progress
on such a fundamental issue? The answer lies is
in a tangle of politics, economics and international
bureaucracy, and reveals there might be hope for
the future of the whales after all.
The reality of vote buying
The main reason behind this
reversal is the Japanese government's determined,
and expensive, vote buying program. Japan has
one of the world's largest economies (third globally
by purchasing power), and it is no secret Japan
leverages foreign aid for political gain. As reported
recently in the Taipei Times:
Earlier this year it [Japan] pledged more than
US$1 million to the Pacific island of Tuvalu,
a pro-whaling IWC member, and has reached similar
deals with Nauru and Kiribati and other desperately
poor countries in the Pacific. Last week it is
believed to have offered a large aid package to
other Pacific countries. It has also invited the
heads of state of seven African countries and
eight Caribbean and Central American countries
to visit Tokyo in the last year. All are expected
to vote with Japan at St Kitts.
At least US$300 million was
given last year to Antigua, Dominica, Grenada,
Panama, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines,
and St Kitts and Nevis.
(Friday, Jun 02, 2006)
Japan's whalers are so certain
their control of the IWC is assured, last whaling
season they increased their self allotted Antarctic
quota to a maximum of 945 whales - including 10
endangered fin whales (second in size only to
blue whales).
In the 2007/8 it goes higher
as they up the number of fin to 50, and add another
50 endangered humpbacks on top of that. The whalers
already catch so many whales there isn't room
on their factory ship for all the meat, and a
refrigerated cargo ship is sent to the Antarctic
to take boxes of whale meat back to Japan. Even
still, they dump tons of whale overboard - taking
home only the more profitable cuts. After all,
why not? Who is there to tell them otherwise?
Up till now, the IWC has regularly condemned Japan's
so called "scientific" whaling, but
with the whaler's in control it will more likely
pat them on the back.
Governments stand up to whaling
Some of the governments that
helped enact the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
(1994) and moratorium on commercial whaling (1986)
have, in fact, tried to protect these gains. This
past year 17 nations (including Brazil, Australia
and the UK) issued a strongly worded diplomatic
demarche pointing out:
"Japan is now killing more whales in the
Antarctic every year than it killed for scientific
research in the 31 years prior to the introduction
of the moratorium on commercial whaling."
The governments further expressed
"grave concerns" that the ongoing hunt,
"will undermine the long-term viability,"
of both fin and humpback whales.
But it looks like this strong
diplomatic action, and ministerial level visits
to some new IWC members, will not be enough to
keep Japan from taking over. The reality is that
the Japanese government has chosen to spend more
money and political capital on whaling than governments
in favour of protecting the whales. There is on
some levels probably a disbelief that the whalers
can win back control of the IWC - intuitively
it just doesn't make sense considering the mess
they made of it before sanity prevailed in the
early eighties. But for years now the warning
signs have been clear. No matter what happens
at this year's meeting, it should be a wake up
call for the conservation minded governments of
the world.
So who is there left to stop
whaling?
Mostly the people reading these
words. From here on it's largely down to us. And
around the world individuals are banding together
in common cause to defend the whales. During the
last whaling season we took on Nissui - one of
the world's largest seafood companies and also
a one-third shareholder in Kyodo Senpaku, which
owns and operates the whaling fleet.
Across the planet, Nissui subsidiaries
heard from angry shoppers. Organizations like
the Humane Society and Environmental Investigations
Agency joined in. Greenpeace Ocean Defenders sent
a total of 100,000 emails to Nissui-related companies.
And Nissui lost seafood supply contracts in Argentina
after Ocean Defenders placed stickers denouncing
whaling on Nissui products in supermarkets and
sent more than 20,000 emails.
Before the whaling season was
over, Nissui had decided to get out of the whaling
industry because, as reported in the Nikkan Kugyo
Shimbun (Daily Industry):
"Overseas subsidiaries are having big problems.
As our business has globalized, whaling has become
a hidden risk", said Mr. Naoya Itagaki, the
president of Nissui which takes the brunt of the
criticisms against its involvement in whaling
because of their share holding position in Kyodo-Senpaku.
(June 8th 2006, morning edition,
Greenpeace translation)
In reality, Nissui's move was
simply good business sense. Aside from international
pressure, demand for whale meat has plummeted,
even in Japan. Stockpiles of whale meat there
have nearly doubled over the last decade to 5,000
tonnes. There's so much unwanted whale meat that
it's being sold as doggie treats, and an expanded
school lunch program is in the works - with the
hope of getting Japanese kids used to eating it.
The whaling industry in Norway is experiencing
similar difficulties.
Would Japan's take over of the
International Whaling Commission be a disastrous
setback for the whales? Yes. But would it be the
end of the story? We will see about that.
