Japan pushs for a return to commercial whaling

Pro-whaling nations expected to request a return to commercial whaling as the founding principle of the IWC.

In a move designed to attack the foundations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and challenge the global moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan is hosting a unofficial meeting to discuss a return to the principles on which it claims the IWC was founded – the management of commercial whaling - but which failed to protect whale species from decades of overexploitation and cheating and brought some species to the edge of oblivion.

Formed in 1946 under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), the IWC was originally created to regulate an out of control whaling industry. Essentially a whalers’ club, the IWC’s first decades oversaw the decimation of species after species through a series of flawed management regimes. In 1986, a ban on commercial whaling was introduced by the IWC which shifted its focus to the conservation and protection of whale species, in an attempt to allow populations, some which were hunted nearly to extinction, to recover.

Despite Japan extending invitations to all 72 IWC member countries, no more than 34 countries are likely to attend the meetings, to be held over three days in Tokyo. Thirty three countries, including Denmark, recently voted with Japan in support of commercial whaling, while Switzerland, also planning to attend, did not.

26 anti-whaling countries including the UK, New Zealand and Australia and Argentina are to boycott the meeting, which is likely to propose steering the IWC away from conservation and protection measures for whales, and towards a return to commercial whaling, despite many areas of uncertainty regarding whale population numbers and the continued welfare concerns over inhumane killing techniques.

The conservation of the world’s whales took a huge blow last year when the pro-whaling nations, led by Japan, Norway and Iceland, gained a majority of votes at the 58th IWC meetings and adopted the ‘St Kitts & Nevis Declaration’.

The vote for the “St Kitts and Nevis Declaration” demonstrated that the pro-whaling nations have seized control of the Commission for the first time in decades; securing a simple majority of votes on a declaration in favour of whaling. The declaration, which declares that the moratorium on commercial whaling is “no longer required”, secured 33 votes in favour, 32 against and an abstention from China. All member states of the European Union opposed the statement, except Denmark which voted in favour.

The ban on commercial whaling, brought into effect over 20 years ago by the IWC to save whales decimated by decades of unregulated and unsustainable whaling, came closer to being overturned last year when the whaling nations took control of the IWC. Japan is intent on driving the IWC to abandon its conservation and welfare mandate and refocus exclusively on whaling. The normalization meeting is expected to reach a conclusion that this is the only appropriate course of action for the IWC and bring this recommendation to its next meeting in May for adoption. But the attendance of only pro-whaling nations will strip the outcome of any credibility; a point acknowledged by Japanese Fisheries Agency official, Hideki Moronuki who criticized anti-whaling countries for boycotting the meeting, adding that their absence “could sap its legitimacy”.

Source: WDCS