Guest guest Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific Close-up Japanese lobbying to ease curbs on whale harvests By Hal bernton Seattle Times staff reporter NAOKAZU OINUMA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Japanese college students Naoko Uno, left, and Kei Morita, both 20, have a bite of deep-fried whale meat in downtown Tokyo last week. The samples were offered as part of a national campaign to support whaling. E-mail this article Print this article Search web archive Related stories Injunction is sought to halt tribe's spring hunt April 15: Makah leaders say more pressing needs than whale hunts face their people Delegates arriving at the International Whaling Commission meeting next month in Shimonoseki, Japan, will be greeted by boisterous demonstrations - not in protest but in favor of whaling. This year's annual meeting takes place in the home port of Japan's faded factory whaling fleet, which harpoons hundreds of whales annually in the name of science. Six representatives from the Makah Tribe of northwest Washington also will be at Shimonoseki to lobby for a five-year extension of its existing quota, allowing the tribe to take 20 gray whales through 2008. IWC approval, though, is no sure bet. Although the tribe has taken just one gray whale, in 1999, and no families have yet applied for a permit to go hunting this spring, the tribe is adamant that it wants to preserve its treaty right to do so in coming years. The Makah request will likely be a sideshow in a meeting dominated by Japan's controversial agenda, which includes expansion of its " scientific " whaling program and its push to finalize rules for a new era of commercial hunting. The meetings, scheduled for the week of May 20, are expected to draw delegations from at least 30 of the 43 member nations of the IWC. " This is expected to be one of the most difficult meetings of the past 20 years. There are a lot of big issues on the table, " said Rollie Schmitten, federal fishery official who will head the U.S. delegation to the meeting. In anticipation of a showdown over whaling, Japan is trying to whip up homeland support by playing to its seafaring island-nation traditions. Symposiums are scheduled on Japan's storied whaling history and its culinary skill in preparing whale meat. Three motor caravans are touring the country promoting whaling. Pro-whaling posters have popped up in railway stations. To boost consumption, April 9 was proclaimed " Eat More Whale Day. " The campaign will culminate with a week of pro-whaling demonstrations outside the commission meeting hall. Also on hand - meeting, caucusing and striving to influence the outcome - will be dozens of observers drawn from the ranks of environmental and animal-rights groups, as well as an international potpourri of whalers ranging from the Grenadines to the Makahs. Japan's appetite for whale The Japanese have been eating whales for centuries, and in the difficult postwar years baleen products were a staple. By the early 1960s, Shimonoseki was home port to catcher boats, freezer ships and tankers that killed thousands of whales a year. Supermarkets sold the meat, and street vendors hawked a baleen bacon. Today, whale meat is a scarce item among a population increasingly turning to other foodstuffs. According to a survey published last month in the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, only 4 percent of the population say they sometimes eat whale, 53 percent claim to have eaten whale " a long time ago, " and 33 percent say they have never eaten whale. Despite the drop in consumption, Japan's government remains deeply committed to whaling as part of a broader claim to harvest resources from the sea. Japan officially abides by an IWC moratorium on commercial hunts of 13 species of whales. But through the '90s, the Japanese government expanded its " scientific " hunt that kills in the name of research and helps meet expenses through the sale of whale meat and byproducts. If any of the commission delegates seeks a taste of whale, there should be plenty on hand. The Shimonoseki fleet earlier this month returned from Antarctica with some 2,000 tons of fresh minke. Despite the drop in consumption, Japan's government remains deeply committed to whaling as part of a broader claim to harvest resources from the sea. Japan once found plenty of support on the commission. IWC members at odds Formed in 1946 to conserve 13 species of whales, the IWC used to embrace commercial harvests. Indeed, its initial goal was to use conservation to " thus make possible the orderly development of the industry, " according to its founding charter. The whaling commission has no power to impose economic sanctions but gets its clout through the international legitimacy conferred to those who follow its rules. Today, most of the 43 member nations support limited hunting for aboriginal subsistence harvests. But they are bitterly divided over commercial whaling. Some members, including the United States, want to abandon such kills in an age when whales have gained international appeal as symbols of the marine environment. They succeeded in passing a 1986 moratorium on commercial hunts of 13 species. Other members, led by Japan and Norway, argue that whales should be harvested - just like fish - on a sustainable basis. " We don't want to have huge commercial whaling like in the past, " said Yagi Nobuyuki, the first secretary of Japan's embassy in Washington, D.C. " We want to see a reasonable harvest. " Japan officially abides by an IWC moratorium on commercial hunts of 13 species of whales. But through the '90s, the Japanese government expanded its " scientific " hunt that kills in the name of research and helps meet expenses through the sale of whale meat and byproducts. Even with the moratorium in place, commercial whaling continues. Norway, an IWC member nation, now hunts minke whales in the North Atlantic. At the May meeting in Japan, much of the agenda will be taken over by Japan's bid for rules that could someday regulate future commercial whaling. But lifting the moratorium would require the support of three-quarters of the IWC members. And Japan - despite recruiting supporters with offers of financial aid - still lacks the votes. " That won't happen. I can guarantee it, " said Schmitten, the U.S. delegation leader. The Makah claim In 1997, a Makah tribal delegation ventured to the IWC meeting in Monaco to win approval for its long-standing treaty right to hunt Pacific grays. The Makah proposal triggered protests from dozens of environmental and animal-rights activists, with some fearing a Pacific Northwest hunt would open the door to increased whaling elsewhere in the world. At the Monaco meeting, the United States and Russia brokered a deal: The Makah would get to take 20 whales through 2002 as part of a 620-whale quota shared with the struggling Eskimos and the Chukchi people of Russia's Chukotka Peninsula. " There was a lot of drama, and it took a lot of arm-twisting, " said John Tichotsky, an Alaska Pacific University professor who attended the meeting on behalf of Russian and Alaskan Eskimos. " It was very much touch and go. " U.S. officials meanwhile want to renew the existing Russian-Makah whale agreement, and there likely will be protest. Jim McClay, a New Zealand delegate to the commission, said his nation " as a matter of general principal " would prefer that the Russian and Makah quotas be put to separate votes. But he wouldn't disclose whether New Zealand would try to make that happen. " Quite frankly I don't know what will happen. " The Makah are hopeful that any opposition can be quelled. " It is important to secure the quota, and we will, " said Michael Lawrence, a Makah tribal council member attending the Shimonoseki meeting. But the commission process is notoriously unpredictable, and U.S. government officials remain cautious. " What actually happens depends on the dynamics of the meeting, " said one U.S. official who was at the Monaco IWC meeting. Japan seeks support Japanese delegates - eager to assert cultural ties to whaling among their own coastal communities - supported the Makah quota. But so far, they've been frustrated by their inability to gain commission approval for coastal community whaling. Even the Makah quota was publicly criticized by Austria, Australia, New Zealand and other nations skeptical of a request from a tribe that hadn't hunted whales in 70 years. The Japanese also have chafed at the attitude of many Western nations that cannot accept any commercial hunts - no matter how healthy the stocks. But Japan's aid to voting member nations may pay off. For the first time in years, Japan may be able to claim a simple majority of votes to gain IWC support for a " scientific " hunt that sanctions whaling done in the name of research. 'Research' gains claimed This year, the " research " effort is the largest ever, with 590 minke, 50 Byrde's, 50 Sei and 10 sperm whales expected to fall to Japanese harpoons. Japanese officials say such " scientific " hunting has given them valuable information about whale populations, and suggest that some more-abundant species - such as minke - should be harvested to reduce competition for endangered blue whales. They also claim the research has documented the whale's huge consumption of fish, and contend that killing whales may free up more fish for humans. U.S. commission delegates dismiss the research program as an end run around the commercial-whaling moratorium, with the Japanese using science as a cover to kill whales for commercial markets. The commission has previously rejected that request. Earlier this year, the Japanese announced that the coastal communities will take the 50 whales to help advance science. Japanese officials also angered conservationists with a proposal disclosed in February to kill 50 Sei whales, which are listed by the U.S. government under the Endangered Species Act. " To hunt these Sei whales, it doesn't make any sense, " said Charlotte de Fontaubert, oceans campaign coordinator for Greenpeace USA. " This has brought the outrage over Japan to a new level. " Hal Bernton can be reached at 206-464-2581 or hbernton. 2002 The Seattle Times Company ................ Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific Injunction is sought to halt tribe's spring hunt By Hal Bernton Seattle Times staff reporter E-mail this article Print this article Search web archive Opponents of Makah whaling went to federal court yesterday seeking an injunction to block a possible spring hunt of Pacific gray whales. The Fund for Animals, The Humane Society and other opposition groups filed the motion in U.S. District Court, arguing that the hunt should not go forward until the court has had time to rule on the merits of a lawsuit filed last January challenging the hunt. That lawsuit charges that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to fully study the effects of a hunt that has been expanded to include areas within the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The new motion says an injunction is needed to prevent irreparable harm, particularly to those gray whales that linger in the strait and would be open to the hunt under new federal harvest rules. " We are hopeful that they (the Makah) will be respectful of the process and hold off on hunting whales until this (lawsuit) is resolved, " said Michael Markarian of the Fund for Animals. John Arum, an attorney for the Makahs, said tribal hunters have no intention of voluntarily sitting out the spring hunt season. " We are not going to act as if we're enjoined, unless we're enjoined,' Arum said. " We don't believe their claims have any merit. " National Marine Fisheries Service officials say they fully examined the risks of the hunt in an environmental assessment that is now being challenged in court. Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the fisheries service, said the new motion for a preliminary injunction is " not unexpected. " 2002 The Seattle Times Our grandchildren will ask us one day: Where were you during the Holocaust of the animals? What did you do against these horrifying crimes? We won't be able to offer the same excuse for the second time, that we didn't know. --Dr. Helmut Kaplan ---------- ---- Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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