(JP) Pro-whalers dealt blow at annual meet

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http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/20/japan.whaling/index.html

 

Pro-whalers dealt blow at annual meet

May 20, 2002 Posted: 6:10 AM EDT (1010 GMT)

 

Staff and wires

 

SHIMONOSEKI, Japan -- Pro-whaling nations suffered an

early defeat at the annual meeting of the

International Whaling Commission when the body

rejected Iceland's bid for full membership.

 

Iceland's status was seen as crucial because its

return to full membership would have given the

pro-whaling group a majority, effectively shifting the

balance of power back to nations like Japan and Norway

that favor a resumption of commercial whaling.

 

Commercial whaling was banned 15 years ago amid

concerns whale numbers in the world were falling below

environmentally sustainable levels.

 

As delegates arrived for the conference in the once

bustling home port of Japan's whaling fleet,

Greenpeace activists staged a protest accusing Japan

of vote-buying, with banners proclaiming " aid for aid,

not aid for whaling. "

 

Dozens of police were deployed, with Reuters reporting

helicopters occasionally circling above. Meanwhile the

Coast Guard sent patrol boats to the nearby Kanmon

Strait to fend off any seaborne protests.

 

'Not about whaling'

 

In the first setback to pro-whalers on Monday,

twenty-five anti-whaling members voted in support of a

ruling by Chairman Bo Fernholm for Iceland to remain

an observer, while 20 voted against and three

abstained.

 

Stefan Asmundsson, head of Iceland's delegation, told

a news conference that Iceland did not accept the vote

and would make another try in the afternoon.

 

" The voting that's going on is not about whaling, "

Reuters reports quoted him as saying.

 

" I'd be lying if I said my respect for the IWC had not

diminished a bit. "

 

Iceland's rejection came after host nation Japan,

which was keen for Iceland to be reinstated as a

voting member, opened the meeting with a call to

resume commercial whaling.

 

" I sincerely hope that this meeting in Shimonoseki

will induce IWC member nations to not make exceptions

of whales and to regard them in the same light as

other living marine resources, " Japanese Agriculture

and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe said in his

opening address Monday.

 

Japan and Norway are now the only member nations that

have functioning whaling industries, killing about

1,000 whales each year.

 

Norway has objected to the moratorium and ignores it,

while Japan claims the right to kill whales for

scientific research, although whale meat from its

hunts is widely sold in Japanese shops and

restaurants.

 

No threat to species

The Japanese and Norwegians say their main targets are

minke whales, which are abundant in the oceans.

Hunting only a few hundred of them poses no threat to

the species or to any others that are not endangered,

they argue.

 

With effective international quotas, they argue that

commercial whaling could now be resumed.

 

But veteran whalers who recall the days before the

moratorium, say they routinely exceeded quotas and

concealed excess kills from government inspectors and

international observers.

 

The moratorium has powerful backing from the United

States, the United Kingdom and Australia but Japan has

succeeded in building more support for its case,

facing criticism for offering economic aid to small

nations in exchange for their votes.

 

'Research whaling'

The pro-whaling campaign had hoped that with an

increase in support for its position it could have

pushed through an extension of what Japan calls

" research whaling, " which takes about 500 animals a

year.

 

Only a simple majority is needed to approve most

issues that go to an IWC vote.

 

Six countries have joined the 48-member organization

since April and four are thought to back Japan's

position for resuming commercial whaling.

 

The decision on Iceland's membership effectively ends

pro-whaling hopes for a majority.

 

The North Atlantic country now maintains its

non-voting observer status after walking out of the

organization 10 years ago to protest the IWC's strong

anti-whaling position.

 

Japan is proposing it take 260 whales this season in

the northern Pacific, including the 15-metre (50 foot)

sei whale, which environmentalists say is endangered.

 

This is in addition to the 400 minkes Japan hunts

around Antarctica each year.

 

--CNN's Gary Strieker contributed to this report.

 

© 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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