Japan's whaling bid brought to standstill

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?np20020522a2.htm

 

Japan's whaling bid brought to standstill

 

SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi Pref. (Kyodo) Japan's campaign

to resume commercial whaling was stymied in this

former whaling town Tuesday as the International

Whaling Commission rejected its proposal that four

Japanese communities be allowed to catch whales.

 

But in a victory for the host nation of this year's

annual whaling conference, two proposals to establish

sanctuaries, where Japan's research whaling would be

forbidden, failed to achieve the three-quarters

majority needed for passage.

 

Japan began research whaling after commercial whaling

was banned and continues to put the meat from the

hunts on the market.

 

In the morning, the IWC narrowly voted down a Japanese

proposal to allow what it calls four whaling

communities to catch 50 minke whales as a relief

measure until the IWC lifts the 16-year-old moratorium

on commercial whaling. The proposal was voted down

21-20, with three members abstaining and one absent.

 

In the afternoon, an Australia- and New Zealand-led

proposal to set up a South Pacific whale sanctuary

failed to muster the three-quarters majority it needed

to pass. The 45-member voting body voted 24-16 for the

proposal, with five abstentions.

 

The commission also has three nonvoting members.

 

A Brazilian proposal to set up a South Atlantic Whale

Sanctuary also failed to pass.

 

The votes came after a bit of drama in the morning. As

the meeting began, Iceland stormed out of the meeting

to protest the group's decision the previous day to

deny it full membership.

 

" All attempts not to recognize Iceland as a member of

the IWC convention are illegal, " an angry Iceland

Commissioner Stefan Asmundsson said before leaving the

the the IWC's 54th plenary session. " Iceland considers

yesterday's proceedings totally unacceptable, and

therefore decided not to take part further in this

meeting. "

 

A majority of IWC members voted down the country's bid

to rejoin the body because of its reservations against

the IWC's ban on commercial whaling. The country,

which also tried to re-enter the body last year --

after it first stormed out a decade ago -- will remain

a nonvoting observer.

 

That vote, along with the body's rejection the same

day of a proposal to introduce secret ballots, marked

a severe blow for the prowhaling camp, led by Japan

and Norway.

 

The host nation also gave up on another proposal to

scrap the 1979 Indian Ocean Sanctuary after

encountering opposition from countries such as Guinea

and such staunch antiwhalers as New Zealand.

 

For the whaling community bid, which also required a

three-quarters majority to pass, Japan was merely

aiming for a simple majority in the hopes of altering

the IWC's antiwhaling atmosphere.

 

Masayuki Komatsu, the No. 2 member of the Japanese

delegation, attributed the defeat to Monday's 25-20

rejection of full membership for Iceland.

 

But the Japanese Fisheries Agency official downplayed

the defeat and said, " It was the first time ever a

quota-related proposal won the support of nearly half

the votes. "

 

He said that Japan's contention that the 1982

moratorium on commercial whaling has significantly

disrupted Japanese coastal communities helped boost

the number of votes in its favor compared with the

previous year.

 

Setsuo Hamanaka, mayor of the town of Taiji in

Wakayama Prefecture, one of the four communities, told

the IWC members that " overpopulated " minke whales are

having an impact on local fishing-oriented economies.

 

The Japan Times: May 22, 2002

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