Conflict at International Whaling Commission

Conflict at International Whaling Commission

May 2007 -   The future of the International 
Whaling Commission as a whole is at stake this week as delegates from the 
75 IWC member nations debate issues that range from the current moratorium 
on commercial whaling, to Japan's research whaling expeditions that kill 
hundreds of whales each year. 
In its opening statement today, Japan said that because it views the 
collapse of the IWC as a "real possibility," the government of Japan 
hosted a conference on "Normalization of the IWC" in February of this 
year. Half the IWC member nations boycotted the conference, but still the 
outcome document is on the agenda for discussion by the full IWC this 
week. 
To Japan, normalization means that the IWC is "dysfunctional" because the 
body originally was established in 1946 to set rules for the harvest of 
whales. Now that the moratorium is in place the IWC shows "disregard for 
international law," the normalization conference concluded. 
The IWC should drop the moratorium, the normalization conference decided, 
a position the Japanese delegate repeated in his opening statement in 
Anchorage today. 
Japan says the IWC is dysfunctional because the moratorium excludes whales 
"from the principle of sustainable use of resources." 
Hundreds of Antarctic minke whales like this one are killed every year by 
Japanese whalers for "scientific research." 
In his opening statement, the Japanese delegate said, "The use of 
cetaceans, like other fishery resources, contributes to sustainable 
coastal communities, sustainable livelihoods, food security and poverty 
reduction. Whales should be treated as any other marine living resources 
available for harvesting subject to conservation and science-based 
management." 
Japan argues that the IWC has become too emotional concerning whales and 
that negotiations are not carried out in good faith. 
Japan, one of the three pro-whaling countries along with Iceland and 
Norway, is expected to request quotas for hunting minke whales in Japan's 
coastal waters, with the meat and other whale products to be used for 
local consumption, similar to quotas allowed to some indigenous groups 
such as Alaska natives. 
Sue Fisher of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said, "Whale 
conservation currently faces the biggest onslaught since the ban on 
commercial whaling was put in place. Not only do pro-whaling countries 
want to lift the ban on whaling, but they also aim to lift restrictions on 
international trade in whale products – which, if allowed, would once 
again fuel an uncontrollable slaughter." 
Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the group of nations 
in favor of whale conservation has its work cut out for it this year. 
"Japan secured a vote last year in favor of a non-binding resolution 
supporting commercial whaling. While the resolution has no effect 
whatsoever on the global moratorium on commercial whaling, it signalled 
renewed attempts to reopen whaling on a commercial scale," Turnbull said. 

Japan plans to add humpback whales like this one to its self-assigned 
research whaling quota this coming season. 
But the moratorium will not be lifted in the near future, as it would 
require a three-quarters majority of votes. 
This year the narrow balance of power has shifted in favor of conservation 
with the addition of new IWC members Croatia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Greece, and 
Slovenia. The only new member nation to lean towards the pro-whaling side 
is Laos. 
The whale conservation nations will attempt to persuade countries to end 
all scientific and commercial whaling activities, a position supported by 
Gert Lindemann, undersecretary of state in the German Federal Ministry for 
Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. 
Speaking with a Greenpeace reporter in Anchorage, Lindemann said that 
Germany "wants the moratorium on commercial whaling to continue, and I 
think we have that." 
Germany, which holds the Presidency of the European Union through June 30, 
said Europe wants scientific whaling to be stopped "because we think there 
are non-lethal methods to get scientific results and it is not necessary 
to kill whales for scientific reasons." 
Germany does not support the Japanese proposal for coastal whaling either. 
"Japan is trying to connect it with aboriginal whaling, though it is quite 
different," Lindemann said. 
Whale conservation countries today rejected an offer by Japan to drop its 
planned killing of humpback whales for "scientific research" in return for 
coastal whaling. 

Western Pacific grey whales are threatened by increasing ocean traffic 
caused by new oil drilling platforms in waters off the shore of Sakhalin 
Island, Russia. 
Meanwhile, the IWC Scientific Committee warned today that the population 
of Western Pacific gray whales is likely to go extinct by 2050. The small 
population ranges from Korea in the south to the Okhotsk Sea in the north. 

These animals are threatened by oil and gas exploration off Russia and are 
also being caught in nets by Japanese and Korean fishermen. 
The population of 150 animals includes only 30 mature females, and four 
females were killed in Japanese nets this year. The Scientific Committee 
called this rate of death "completely unsustainable." 
Chair of the IWC meeting Bill Hogarth, director of the U.S. National 
Marine Fisheries Service, says his job is to make sure all delegates feel 
comfortable and get an opportunity to speak. 
Hogarth will chair a shortened session. The IWC meeting will last only 
four days this year instead of five, because another important 
international wildlife meeting is scheduled immediately afterwards. The 
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species opens its triennal 
conference at The Hague June 3. 

Greenpeace employees and volunteers march in Anchorage with star of the TV 
show Heroes, Hayden Panettiere, second from right. 
As delegates to the International Whaling Commission annual meeting 
gathered Sunday in Anchorage, Greenpeace staged a light-hearted prelude to 
the serious conflicts to be addressed later this week. Hundreds of people 
bearing anti-whaling signs and some wearing whale suits snaked through the 
city center in a parade they called a "Big Blue March." 
It was one of about 50 Big Blue Marches that were held Sunday in 
Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Colombia, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, 
Fiji, France, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, 
Spain, and Uruguay, among many other places. 
In Anchorage, the Big Blue March circled the Captain Cook Hotel, where the 
International Whaling Commission meeting opened today. 
Anchorage police and security guards in suits stood by the hotel doors, 
but did not confront the friendly crowd. 

Human mural of a whale in Anchorage, Alaska. 
At the end of the parade aerial artist John Quigley took over. 
Over the past several weeks, Quigley has set up eight human murals from 
Mexico to Alaska called "Migrating Human Whales" that were photographed 
from the air. He used a total of some 10,000 schoolchildren arranged in 
whale shapes to dramatize opposition to whaling. 
Quigley arranged the Anchorage crowd into the shape of a humpback whale, 
with the word "Defend" made up of people above it. Everyone maintained 
their pose through the drizzle until the photo was snapped and the cycle 
of Migrating Human Whales cycle was complete.    

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