20 Jun
2006 - St Kitts and Nevis – Despite cries of victory
this week from the pro-whaling camp citing that
their narrow majority will pave the way to re-open
commercial whaling, and equal fervour from anti-whaling
countries stressing the status quo has held, more
whales than ever are being caught and killed on
the open seas each year, in spite of the global
whaling moratorium, WWF says.
“Regardless of the rhetoric
and posturing here, very little has been achieved
for either whales or people this week,” said Dr
Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species
Programme.
“Nearly two thousand whales
have been killed by Japan, Norway and Iceland
since last year’s meeting. Every single minute,
a whale or a dolphin is harpooned, caught, or
drowned in fishing nets. Where is conservation?”
The main issue of contention
was a Japanese proposal towards “normalization”
of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
This aims to take the IWC back to its “original
purpose” which, according to Japan, is to manage
commercial whaling as it did in 1946. Pro-whaling
countries obtained a narrow majority — 33 to 32
with one abstention from China — supporting this
resolution, the so-called “St Kitts and Nevis
Declaration”.
The declaration also attempts
to bring into question the scientific rationale
for the global ban on whale hunting in 1986 and
slams non-governmental organizations. It also
purports to give legitimacy to the scientifically
invalid claim that whale populations are responsible
for the decline in the world’s fisheries.
Many of the countries that opposed
the resolution stated for the record that they
disassociated themselves from the declaration.
Of the 17 EU members of the IWC, only Denmark
voted for the proposal.
Japan has now said it will convene
a meeting in February, inviting countries that
“support sustainable consumptive use of whale
stocks". WWF believes that sustainable use
of whales can best be achieved with non-lethal
use, primarily through whale-based tourism, which
provides greater economic benefits for poor coastal
communities around the world.
Agreeing that reform of some
kind of the IWC is necessary, WWF has circulated
a paper calling for modernization of the IWC to
bring it into line with modern environmental law
and treaties.
“This impasse between whalers
and anti whalers with each team bringing on its
extras at half-time cannot go on,” said Gordon
Shepherd, Head of Policy at WWF International.
“Let’s look at how to reform this convention and
bring it in to line with 21st century conservation
practice.”
A WWF opinion poll showed that
in ten countries in the Pacific and the Caribbean,
people are against a return to commercial whaling,
despite millions of dollars of Japanese development
aid and an unrelenting public relations onslaught.
