Anti-whalers hold ground

By ANNE BESTON

Anti-whaling nations scored the first hit at this year's annual whaling meeting as Iceland was again barred from joining the International Whaling Commission.

Iceland stormed out of the IWC 10 years ago in disgust at the body's anti-whaling stance but applied to rejoin last year.

It was limited to non-voting observer status, but this year's vote was seen as a crucial test of whether pro-whaling nations had gained enough support to swing control of the organisation their way.

The IWC voted 25 to 20 yesterday to limit Iceland to observer status, an early victory for anti-whalers because Iceland said it would refuse to sign up to the IWC's whaling moratorium.

The war of words in the annual whaling debate kicked off in earnest as the 54th IWC meeting, which ends on Friday, got underway.

Both New Zealand and Japan laid down the gauntlet in their opening statements, New Zealand accusing Japan of "defiance" and Japan demanding whale protection measures be overturned.

For anti-whaling nations, this year's meeting is being held in enemy territory, in the small fishing village of Shimonoseki, home of Japan's once-thriving whale industry.

The Japanese have made it clear they want to roll back conservation gains made over the last few decades, including a demand that the Indian Ocean whale sanctuary, set up in 1979, be abolished.

Japan is also expanding its whaling programme in the North Pacific to include an extra 50 minke whales and 50 sei whales under its "scientific whaling" programme. It already takes about 400 minke whales in the Antarctic under the programme.

"Neither of these proposals appears justified, neither from the scientific information to be gained from taking these whales, nor from the available evidence of stock levels in the region," said Conservation Minister Sandra Lee, who is leading New Zealand's IWC delegation.

"The taking of sei whales looks like an act of defiance in the face of the evidence available on the abundance of these whales."

The IWC had listed North Pacific sei whales - a species untouched for 26 years - as protected stock with a zero quota, and they are listed by some organisations as endangered.

But Japan's argument at this year's meeting appears to be that the IWC should do what it was set up for - to regulate whaling.

Interpretation of the IWC's founding document, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, has led to long and often bitter debate on the IWC's role.

The convention says the IWC has a duty "to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry".

Japan, Norway and Iceland interpret that as meaning the IWC should regulate whaling, not ban it, while anti-whaling countries such as New Zealand argue just as strongly for conservation.

Japan is also pushing strongly again this year for voting at the IWC to be held in secret.

Greenpeace said yesterday that Japan had to garner only 50 per cent of the 48 member countries' votes to impose secret ballots.

But it needs 75 per cent of IWC votes to overturn the all-important moratorium on whaling imposed in 1986. Anti-whaling nations believe that will not happen this year, but Greenpeace said yesterday that 50 per cent of the vote would allow Japan to speed the process whereby the moratorium could eventually be lifted.

Greenpeace protesters dressed as Japanese Fisheries Agency officials yesterday handed out fake gold to member countries in return for their "votes". Last year Japan outraged IWC countries by admitting it provided aid to small Caribbean nations in return for votes.

nzherald.co.nz/environment