Enlisting countries to anti-whaling cause

Enlisting countries to anti-whaling cause



Feb 2007 - The British government 
has launched a recruitment drive to enlist more countries to 
the anti-whaling cause, whether or not they have coastal 
waters. Only three countries - Japan, Iceland and Norway - 
actively carry out whaling, but the pro-whaling countries now 
command the majority within the International Whaling 
Commission, IWC. 
The government said Wednesday it is concerned about the loss 
of the anti-whaling majority within the IWC and the 
"increasing disregard" that pro-whaling countries are showing 
towards the current moratorium on commercial whaling. 
Despite the 20 year old ban, the number of whales killed each 
year continues to grow. 
The crew aboard a Japanese whaler measures the weight of a 
minke whale. 2005.  
A 75 percent majority is needed to overturn the moratorium. 
Currently, the IWC membership stands at 72 countries. 
A publication entitled "Protecting Whales - A Global 
Responsibility," endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and 
naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, is being 
sent to the governments of countries who are not yet members 
of the International Whaling Commission, IWC. 
In the foreword, Blair writes, "The UK government strongly 
supports the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on 
commercial whaling. We urge your government to join the UK and 
the other anti-whaling nations to ensure that our generation 
meets its global responsibility to protect whales." 
It explains why it is important that more of 
conservation-minded governments join the IWC and back efforts 
to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises around the globe. 
The publication debuted Wednesday aboard the International 
Fund for Animal Welfare's marine research vessel, Song of the 
Whale now docked in London. 
British Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw  
Introducing the initiative, Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw, 
said, "Whales are a common heritage and as such the 
responsibility for their conservation and protection rests 
with all countries, whether or not they have coastal waters. 
"Whaling is inherently cruel and economically unnecessary and 
we would urge all countries to join the IWC, protect the IWC's 
moratorium and take up the global responsibility to protect 
whales for future generations." 
At the IWC's 2006 annual meeting, for the first time in more 
than two decades, the IWC members voted 33 to 32 with one 
abstention in favor of whaling. The Declaration stated that 
the moratorium on whaling was "no longer necessary." 
Two blue whales in Icelandic waters. Abundant in most oceans 
until about 1900, hunting of the species was outlawed in 1966 
as they neared extinction. Up to 12,000 blue whales exist 
worldwide today.  
"We do not believe that the current set-up within the IWC 
reflects true international opinion and believe that the 
dynamics and focus of the only internationally recognized 
organization responsible for the protection of cetaceans will 
now alter dramatically to favor whaling," the government said 
in a statement. 
The European Commission also is encouraging those member 
states and accession countries that are not members of the IWC 
to join. 
The Brazilian Alternate Commissioner to the IWC said Monday 
that Brazil and at least 22 other pro-conservation countries 
will not recognize the Japanese call for an "informal meeting" 
in Tokyo February 13-15 to negotiate the resumption of 
large-scale commercial whaling. 
Commissioner Jose Truda Palazzo, Jr. said the decision was 
taken by these countries "as a response to Japan's refusal to 
halt irregular 'scientific' whaling in the Antarctic Whale 
Sanctuary and to campaign against further protected areas in 
the Southern Hemisphere." 
On Monday in Brasilia, Palazzo was awarded the National 
Environmental Prize for his work to protect right whales and 
other cetaceans. The prize was created by an alliance of 
Brazilian press and business companies. 
He said that Brazil and the other Latin countries in the IWC 
will not negotiate with Japan before it halts whaling in the 
Southern hemisphere and agrees to a Whale Sanctuary in the 
South Atlantic Ocean. 
Brazil's Alternate Commissioner Jose Truda Palazzo, Jr. and 
Commissioner Maria Teresa Pessoa at the 2004 IWC meeting in 
Sorrento, Italy.  
The Latin countries have repeatedly proposed such a sanctuary 
at IWC meetings for years, only to have the proposal defeated 
by the pro-whaling voting bloc led by Japan. 
"The meeting called by Japan is just another political move 
aimed at weakening the global moratorium, and to bring back 
the bad old days of widespread abuse on these animals which 
are a global heritage we must strive to protect", he said. 
Southern nations, in particular Brazil, Argentina, South 
Africa, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, promote non-lethal 
use of whales through ecotourism as an alternative to whaling, 
and do not want to see this use threatened by the Japanese 
intent to engage in widespread killing of these animals, said 
Palazzo. 
"Whales are not fish and their management is not even remotely 
like fisheries. We must see whales as a shared marine 
biodiversity heritage which cannot again be threatened by the 
greed of hyper-developed nations," said Commissioner Palazzo. 
The IWC will hold its next annual meeting in May in Anchorage, 
Alaska. Palazzo says the pro-conservation countries will 
"insist on a halt of all whaling in the Southern Hemisphere as 
a precondition to negotiating any concessions." 
The recruitment of countries to the pro-whaling and 
anti-whaling voting blocs within the IWC began in the late 
1970s by conservationists seeking obtain the necessary 
three-quarters majority vote to implement the moratorium on 
commercial whaling in 1986. 
More recently, Japan has been subject to accusations of 
vote-buying as it has recruited small nations to the 
pro-whaling side with promises of Overseas Development 
Assistance, ODA. 
Japan has given millions of dollars in overseas aid to Antigua 
and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guinea, Morocco, Panama, St. 
Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, 
and the Solomon Islands. Caribbean countries have consistently 
sided with Japan in each IWC vote since 2001. 
Japanese IWC Commissioner Masayuki Komatsu  
When allegations of vote buying by Japan emerged at the London 
IWC meeting in 2001, Japanese Commissioner Masayuki Komatsu 
said, "If Japan was buying votes, you would see 150 nations in 
the IWC and as a consequence the unnecessary moratorium would 
have been lifted years ago." 
But just before the London meeting, Komatsu told the 
Australian Broadcasting Corporation that because Japan has 
little military power it must rely on "diplomatic 
communication and ODAs [Overseas Development Assistance]." 
All of this worries the British government, which said 
Wednesday, "Unless more conservation-minded countries join the 
IWC in the very near future, at this year's meeting the 
pro-whaling nations are likely to consolidate their position, 
to dominate the IWC agenda, introduce secret ballots and 
reverse previous resolutions aimed at conserving and 
protecting whales."

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