A whale of a deal

An image from Greenpeace of a Minke whale captured by a Japanese ship in the Southern Ocean. Photo / AP

Whales might swim around in the ocean doing their own thing, but the fact is they are one hell of a slippery diplomatic issue.

When documents were leaked this week revealing that high-level political appointees from Western countries - New Zealand and Australia among them - have been thinking about allowing Japan to carry on its so-called scientific culling of the sea giants in its own backyard, thereby getting the country out of our backyard, all hell broke loose.

Greenpeace and other conservation groups say this proposal is unacceptable and there has been astonishment that New Zealand, with its proud anti-whaling and pro-conservation history, was even part of such discussions.

But even a whale expert here says this is only a proposal; that something has to be done to break a long-standing impasse which nobbles the International Whaling Commission at the knees, rendering it virtually useless.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully, in keeping with Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, quickly pointed out New Zealand is not supporting any particular proposal but is involved because we urgently need to find a way of reducing the number of whales being killed.

Under the proposal, led by the American chair of the IWC, William Hogarth, from the former Bush administration, Japan would be allowed to kill an unspecified number of whales off its own coast in return for cutting back the number of minke whales it slaughters each year in the Southern Ocean.

While not condoning any such idea, Auckland whale biologist Dr Rochelle Constantine says she was not at all surprised to hear of New Zealand's involvement in discussions.

For many years countries have been struggling to find common ground, looking for some way of moving forward, she says.

"I don't think it's any secret that many of the member states at the IWC have been deadlocked basically into pro-whaling and anti-whaling in the crudest sense."

At IWC meetings, Japan manages to recruit, one way or another, a number of countries who vote in its favour. We can't stay locked in this stalemate, she says, "the meeting is not worthwhile, we're making no progress".

When a moratorium on commercial whaling was put in place back in 1986 (which Japan manages to flout by claiming its whaling is for scientific reasons) it was with a view to looking at the potential for future commercial whaling again, she points out.