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Whale lovers and hunters still at odds as ICW meet closes
Santiago (AFP) June 24, 2008 The International Whaling Commission ended its annual meeting Friday leaving unchanged both its long-standing row over commercial whaling and Japan's "scientific" hunting quota of 1,000 whales. The divided, 80-nation IWC also sidestepped a proposal for a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, and instead agreed to create a 24-nation working group to recommend solutions ahead of next year's meeting in Portugal's Madeira island. The commission was yet again unable to bridge the gap between member states opposed to whale hunting and those -- chiefly Iceland, Japan and Norway -- in favor. Japan is threatening to leave the ICW unless it lifts a 22-year ban on commercial whale hunting. Reactions to the end of the week-long meeting echoed the controversy. The United States' ICW representative William Hogarth said he was "very pleased" at the outcome, especially the creation of the working group. He said it was important to "look ahead" to working together, and hoped all would be resolved by next year. Latin American conservationists were also pleased. "If conservationists and whalers decided to sit together at a table and look for a solution, it could be they won't find it, but we cannot give up trying," said the group's representative and Chile's ICW delegate Cristian Maquieira. Japan was more pessimistic. "The world is witnessing the death of an international organization," Japan's delegate Glenn Inwood told AFP. He said the ICW must either disappear or be reborn as an organization "that manages sustainable whale hunting." Inwood said that, in the meantime, Japan would continue with its scientific or "lethal research" -- an ICW loophole that allows it to kill some 1,000 whales a year. The United States, France, Britain, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand are among the group of ICW member nations that strongly oppose commercial whaling. The ICW working group will also study a proposal by the "Buenos Aires Group" -- Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay -- to establish an ocean domain in the South Atlantic where whale hunting is always prohibited and whale-watching tourism encouraged. Greenland had also sought permission at the meeting to add 10 humpback whales to its annual subsistence hunting quota, but was voted down. In 1986, the IWC imposed a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling, which allows a limited number of whales to be killed only for research purposes. It relaxed this ban in 1992, allowing some commercial hunting of minke whales. But in subsequent years Iceland and Norway have ignored the ban and resumed commercial whaling. ICW resolutions must be approved by 75 percent of its members. Related Links Follow the Whaling Debate
Japan defends 'scientific' whale hunting at IWC
Santiago (AFP) June 25, 2008Japan defended its practice of 'scientific' whale hunting at the annual International Whaling Commission meeting here on Wednesday, insisting it had yielded important scientific results. |
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