(JP)IWC factions set for annual showdown

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WHALE CONFERENCE IN SHIMONOSEKI

IWC factions set for annual showdown

 

By MICK CORLISS

Staff writer

 

Government delegates and experts from prowhaling and

antiwhaling nations have gathered in the traditional

whaling town of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, for

the Thursday start of the International Whaling

Commission's 54th annual conference.

 

While the stage is set for fierce debate, most veteran

observers do not expect any major developments, such

as an end to the moratorium on commercial whaling

agreed on in 1982.

 

That Japan and other prowhaling nations will remain at

loggerheads with antiwhaling nations is a given.

 

Just how these hostilities will play out in the

conference, which runs through late May, is unclear.

 

Japan and like-minded whaling allies will push for the

adoption of the Revised Management Scheme, which would

effectively usher in a new era of controlled

commercial whaling.

 

Under the proposed RMS, nations could harvest any of

the 13 whale species protected under the whaling

treaty once its population has recovered to more than

60 percent of its estimated virgin stock level, or its

estimated population prior to commercial whaling.

 

Under the RMS system, calculations show that up to

2,000 minke whales in the Antarctic could be caught,

according to Japanese fisheries officials. This is

based on a controversial population estimate, which is

currently under review, that puts the population as

high as 760,000.

 

Antiwhaling nations will probably hold out -- as they

have done since the scheme was first submitted in the

mid-1990s -- for certain amendments that would-be

whaling nations won't swallow.

 

These include stringent monitoring activities to be

paid for by whaling nations.

 

The Shimonoseki conference is the first IWC annual

meeting in Japan since the 1993 conference, which

remains a bitter memory for Japan as it led to the

establishment of the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

 

Participants will hold committee and subcommittee

meetings, with some sessions open to observers and

some held behind closed doors.

 

How issues, including the establishment of a new

sanctuary and resumption of commercial whaling, will

develop will not be clear until the ballot-casting

plenary session during the week of May 20.

 

" We just plan to do what we have been doing every

year, which is call for sustainable use of whales

based on scientific data, " said Masayuki Komatsu,

deputy commissioner of Japan's committee delegation

and counselor for the Fisheries Resource Management

Department at the Fisheries Agency.

 

" The biggest question is how much this (view) has

permeated the committee. "

 

In 1982, the IWC agreed to initiate a temporary

moratorium on whaling while stocks could be assessed.

The moratorium took effect in 1986.

 

To the chagrin of would-be whaling nations and the

delight of animal rights groups, the moratorium

continues.

 

The support of three-quarters of IWC members is needed

to resume commercial whaling under the RMS.

 

 

Whaling restart unlikely

While there has been a slight shift by IWC members

toward support of the RMS system, the consensus among

observers is that it will be impossible for Japan and

its sympathizers to muster enough support to bring

about a restart of commercial whaling this year.

Japanese fisheries officials hope, nevertheless, that

this will be the first year since 1988 that the IWC

fails to pass a resolution condemning Japan's research

whaling.

 

" The balance of (prowhaling and antiwhaling) countries

is a big issue that we are very worried about, " said

Nanami Kurasawa of the Tokyo-based Dolphin & Whale

Action Network.

 

" Iceland has said it will participate this year and

wants to regain voting rights, and Russia has taken

the same position as Japan and will be able to cast a

vote this year, " she said.

 

In recent years, antiwhaling countries' dominance of

the IWC has slowly eroded.

 

Antiwhaling groups contend that Japan uses financial

aid -- especially fisheries aid -- to recruit IWC

members to support its position.

 

At least one high-level fisheries official, in a media

interview, has endorsed the idea using Japan's

overseas aid toward such ends. But as an organization,

the Fisheries Agency denies the accusation, saying

that it gives aid to countries opposed to whaling as

well.

 

At last year's meeting in London, 20 nations voted

against resuming commercial whaling, while 15 adopted

positions akin to Japan's.

 

The voting arithmetic is unclear, as Russia, which has

paid its committee dues, has a vote to cast, and

Japanese officials speculate that at least one

antiwhaling country, Argentina, will skip Shimonoseki.

 

Iceland, which is lobbying to rejoin the IWC after

leaving it in 1992 to whale outside of the

organization's control, may also reacquire voting

rights.

 

What would be the implications of such a shift?

 

In practical terms, probably not much. In symbolic

terms, however, it could be of immeasurable

significance.

 

One or two swing votes could feasibly deprive whaling

opponents of a simple majority, stifling a resolution

urging Japan to cease its research whaling program,

Komatsu said.

 

Such a tilt in the balance of power could also mean

less resistance against Japan's drive to resume

commercial whaling.

 

Still, Japan will be strongly criticized over its plan

submitted to the IWC earlier this year to expand the

scope of its research whaling catch.

 

This year it has set its sights on catching up to 440

minke whales from the Antarctic; 150 from the North

Pacific, including 50 from along the coast; 10 sperm

whales; 50 Bryde's whales; and 50 sei whales. The 50

coastal minkes and 50 sei whales are additions to last

year's goals.

 

Gradually expanded catch

 

Citizens' groups point out that the government has

been expanding its research whaling catch gradually

from a self-imposed quota of about 300 Antarctic minke

whales in the 1987-88 season.

Antiwhaling NGOs slam Japan's research program,

although some scientists acknowledge that the program

has yielded important data, including trends in the

chemical pollution of whale meat.

 

The environmental group Greenpeace, among others, has

cast a suspicious eye on the coastal minke whale hunt

that will start this year.

 

Greenpeace views the maneuver as an underhanded

attempt to jump-start the business of small-scale

coastal whalers who have relied on smaller cetaceans

since the moratorium took effect.

 

Skeptics point out that the additional coastal minke

catch is no different in scope from concessions to the

moratorium that Japan has requested, in vain, from the

IWC since 1988.

 

About 25,000 minke whales are thought to inhabit the

Northern Pacific Ocean.

 

Tokyo counters that research whaling is necessary if

Japan is to demonstrate that commercial whaling is

viable, as well as to establish the volume and variety

of fish consumed by the whales.

 

Government officials are eager to point out that the

IWC treaty was penned " to provide for the proper

conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible

the orderly development of the whaling industry. "

 

In recent years, the government has taken a new and

controversial tack, claiming that whales are consuming

several times the annual human catch of fish and

endangering marine ecosystems.

 

Many NGOs and marine scientists strongly dispute this

as an oversimplified view. Criticism may also be

leveled at Japan over an expose by a former whaling

company executive last year, in which he detailed how

whalers systematically deceived authorities, secretly

capturing undersized whales and underreporting their

catch.

 

Whistle-blower cries foul

 

The author of the account will submit a paper relating

his experience of rampant underreporting of catches

while other experts will discuss how underreporting

may have skewed whale population estimates.

The Fisheries Agency has said it is looking into the

whaling executive's claims, but Komatsu said the

author has refused to meet with agency officials,

leading him to doubt the veracity of his story.

 

Despite the fiery debate expected in Shimonoseki, the

issue is less contentious domestically.

 

Opinion polls in Japan indicate that more people are

for whaling than against it, but indifference appears

to be the dominant sentiment.

 

" Public opinion " varies depending on who conducts the

poll and what questions are asked.

 

According to a recent opinion poll conducted by the

Asahi Shimbun, 47 percent favored whaling while 36

percent opposed it.

 

According to a government-commissioned study that

featured different phrasing, however, nearly 75

percent of people supported whaling.

 

Major rifts aside, whaling opponents and proponents

seem to have one thing in common: both believe the

other side is flouting the whaling treaty.

 

Some observers worry that a continued standoff could

undermine the IWC regime itself, a scenario that has

led some NGOs to adopt more conciliatory positions.

 

Spurred by fears that Japan's growing catch of whales

under its research program and other nations' whaling

without a managed scheme could spur an uncontrolled

resurgence in whaling and the whale meat trade, the

Worldwide Fund for Nature Japan has recently said that

commercial whaling could be acceptable within the

context of a " strict, effective and precautionary "

system.

 

" Whaling without a strict management system is the

scariest thing, " said Tetsu Sato, conservation

director at WWF Japan.

 

Norway objected to the moratorium before it went into

effect and is thus allowed to continue commercial

whaling under treaty rules. Likewise, Japan is given

carte blanche to conduct research whaling activities.

 

" Right now, the IWC is not in control (of whaling), "

Sato said. " Seeing that the whales are taken under a

proper managed system is the most important thing, " he

said.

 

The Japan Times: April 25, 2002

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