IWC proceedings to be published on Internet

[Guest guest]

Jul 19, 2001 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- (Full text of a statement. Contact

details below.)

 

TOKYO, July 19, /KYODO JBN-AsiaNet/-- The 53rd Annual Meeting of the

International Whaling Commission (IWC) is being held from 23 to 27 July,

2001 at the Novotel West Hotel in London. The website " Kujira Portal " will

broadcast to the world the IWC meeting's highlights and press conferences.

 

The main issues being discussed at this year's IWC meeting are the

following:

 

(1) Revised Management Scheme (RMS)

 

RMS is a new scheme for management of whale resources incorporating the

 

already adopted risk averse method for calculating catch quotas as well as

surveillance and monitoring components.

 

(2) Consumption of seafood by whales

 

The amount of marine living resources consumed by whales as food, estimated

to be from 3 to 5 times the amount of the world's marine fisheries harvest

for human consumption, is gaining increasing interest from the part of the

IWC.

 

(3) Small-type coastal whaling allocation of 50 minke whales

 

The establishment of an interim allocation of 50 minke whales for Japan's

small-type coastal whaling from a stock that has been scientifically

demonstrated to be abundant and robust.

 

(4) Proposals for whale sanctuaries in the South Pacific and in the South

Atlantic Oceans Australia and New Zealand will propose again the

establishment of a sanctuary for whales in the South Pacific. Brazil will

also propose the establishment of a similar sanctuary in the South Atlantic.

 

Anticipating heated arguments on these issues by anti-whaling and

pro-whaling delegates at this year's IWC meeting in London, we decided to

relay broadcast and present to the public through the internet the IWC

Plenary Meeting as a means to promote the correct understanding on the

nature and content of the discussions being held there. The discussions of

the preceding day will be transmitted on demand over the web at

http://www.e-kujira.or.jp/world.html starting 24 July 2001.

 

CONTACT : Mitsuyoshi Murakami / Tomoko Kuba, The Institute of Cetacean

Research Phone: +81 (3) 3536-6521 Fax: +81(3) 3536-6522

http://www.whalesci.org http://www.icrwhale.org Source: The Institute Of

Cetacean Research.

 

 

© 2001 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd