Anti-whaling nations win 'great victory' against Japan proposals

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Anti-whaling nations win 'great victory' against Japan proposals

By Charles Clover, Environment Editor

(Filed: 17/06/2006)

 

Japan suffered an unexpected and total defeat when it tried to start attacking

a 20-year-old ban on commercial whaling at the International Whaling

Commission's meeting in the Caribbean state of St Kitts and Nevis last night.

The member countries of the UN whaling treaty voted down two proposals by Japan

- the most significant one for secret ballots so that small Pacific and

Caribbean nations that receive Japanese aid could unpick the protection of

whales without fear of retribution.

Conservationists had feared that Japan would win a narrow majority

 

The other proposal sought to prevent the commission from discussing the fate of

dolphins and porpoises as well as whales.

Ian Campbell, Australia's environment minister and a leader of the anti-whaling

bloc, said: " The great victory is that we have raised the levels of

understanding of this issue to levels that have probably not been seen since the

1970s.

" Tens of thousands of whales have been saved because of the moratorium that is

under threat. "

Conservationists and anti-whaling countries had predicted that the Japanese

were likely to win a narrow overall majority of pro-whaling nations at this

year's meeting.

However, quiet lobbying by anti-whaling countries led by Australia, Britain,

New Zealand and South Africa, and environmental groups, appeared to have seen

off the threat, though only by the narrowest of margins.

Earlier, in the first vote of the five-day talks, anti-whaling nations managed

to hold on to a majority in a vote about whether to drop an item about the

conservation of small whale, porpoise and dolphin species from the agenda.

The vote was won by 32 votes to 30, with one known pro-whaling nation, Senegal,

absent and Denmark abstaining.

Japan had opened the conference with a demand for the resumption of commercial

whaling.

Japan and other whaling nations such as Norway and Iceland almost got a simple

majority at the annual IWC meeting a year ago in South Korea, but some allies

failed to pay their dues and could not vote and others did not turn up. It is

unclear as yet who let them down this time.

Sarah Duthie, of Greenpeace, said: " Whaling history may not have been rewritten

this year but it was too close for comfort. The anti-whaling countries must see

this as a wake-up call and add action to their rhetoric.

" Greenpeace will once again challenge the whalers on the high seas; the

question is, what are the anti-whaling countries prepared to do? "

 

18 June 2005: UK protests over whale hunt17 June 2003: Japanese furious as

whales are protected

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