(JP) Whaling Commission members set agenda for scientific debate

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Whaling Commission members set agenda for scientific

debate

Sun Apr 28, 9:36 AM ET

By JOJI SAKURAI, Associated Press Writer

 

SHIMONOSEKI, Japan - Researchers at the International

Whaling Commission (news - web sites)'s annual

convention Sunday discussed an agenda which seeks to

ensure whale hunts are conducted in a sustainable

manner.

 

About 170 scientists from 25 IWC member countries read

scientific papers and negotiated a timetable for

debates set to last until May 10.

 

" Today's really a housekeeping day, " IWC official

Martin Harvey said.

 

Five anti-whaling activists from Greenpeace also

arrived Sunday in this southern Japanese fishing town,

which was once the nation's main whaling hub.

 

The group said it was planning no protests over the

coming days, but wouldn't rule out demonstrations

later during the convention.

 

" We should live in harmony with whales, " said activist

Kim Sang, distributing leaflets outside the convention

center.

 

The number of minke whales — which can grow to 32 feet

and weigh 10 tons — in the southern hemisphere is a

main focus of the IWC conference.

 

Research conducted a decade ago estimated there were

700,000 minke whales. But last year, a four-year polar

study showed there may be only one-third that number,

and experts have been keen to set the record straight.

 

Japan and Norway lead a small group of pro-whaling

countries. They argue that some whale species are now

so plentiful the moratorium, imposed in 1986 after

generations of over-exploitation, is no longer needed.

 

A vote to end the moratorium is almost certain to fail

as a three-quarters majority of the commission's

member states must support it for it to be adopted.

Although it banned commercial whaling, the IWC permits

scientific hunts and the resulting sales of the whale

meat.

 

Opponents of commercial whaling say that without a

reliable system for monitoring hunts, whaling fleets

might kill more than they are allowed. Many experts

accuse Japan and the former Soviet Union of secretly

over-hunting whales before the ban took effect. Tokyo

denies the charges.

 

 

 

 

 

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