Anti-whaling nations head for showdown with Japan

New Zealand and other anti-whaling nations may not have the numbers to
stop Japan and the pro-whaling bloc moving towards commercial hunting.

The
International Whaling Commission, which meets in South Korea today to
discuss a 19-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling, is set to be a
showdown between pro-whaling nations such as Japan, Norway and Iceland,
and anti-catch countries led by New Zealand, Australia and Britain,
which want rights curbed and some areas of the world's oceans declared
off-limits.

New Zealand's Whaling Commissioner Sir Geoffrey Palmer said the numbers did not favour the New Zealand point of view.

Of the nine new nations that joined the Commission since last year, the majority were pro-whaling.

It was estimated that just over half of the 62 member nations appearing to support whaling.

While
the pro-whaling bloc was probably not yet strong enough to overturn the
commercial whaling ban, because that takes 75 per cent, it would be
difficult to curb so-called "scientific whaling", Sir Geoffrey said.

Pro-catch
nations say the moratorium is no longer necessary because of recovering
whale herds, arguing sustainable hunts should be resumed under a strict
system of quotas.

Meanwhile, under article 8 of the
convention, which allows whales to be killed for "scientific" purposes,
Japan and other countries can continue to give themselves permits to
take any number of whales of whatever species from wherever.

"It
will be difficult to overturn their plans for scientific whaling unless
they are prepared to alter them as the result of expressions of
opposition and outrage that follow on the announcement of those plans,"
Sir Geoffrey said.

"In essence, this argument will in the end be resolved by the public opinion of the world."

Today
Conservation Minister Chris Carter released a statement at the IWC
condemning Japan's plans to expand its scientific whaling programme as
"utterly devoid of any scientific credibility".

"How can any
nation argue butchery on this scale is necessary every year in the name
of science, particularly when most of the rest of the world is now
conducting far more credible research on whales without killing any at
all," Mr Carter said.

He said Japan was exploiting a IWC loop hole on the regulation of whaling.

"This makes a mockery of the IWC, and underscores just how desperately the Convention needs to be reformed and updated."

Marine
biologist Scott Baker of the University of Auckland, who represented
New Zealand on the scientific committee of the commission last week,
said Japan had applied to expanded its scientific programme.

However,
the scientific committee had declined to consider the proposal on the
grounds it was not based on legitimate scientific principles and
referred back the matter to the main commission, he said.

"This
is the same old argument we've been going over for 10 years now and
it's a complete waste of time even debating it," Dr Baker told NZPA.

"It's just so politicised and it's just a distraction from the real scientific proposals on the table."

Tourism
operators who have built their businesses on the backs of the deep sea
mammals were waiting anxiously to hear the outcome of the vote.

Whale Watch Kaikoura spokesman Thomas Kahu said anything that put pressure on whale populations would have a lasting impact.

"You don't get a second chance here," he told NZPA.

"They're
a shared resource, so when whales are killed anywhere, in the Southern
Oceans for instance, that will impact on the stock that show up on our
coast."

The 18-year-old company had been involved in previous
years in making submissions to the IWC on the commercial benefits of
conserving whale populations and he said he hoped the message had found
its target.

"I think that New Zealand and Australia have made a pretty good case and we've just got to keep our fingers crossed."

Nearly
1200 people have signed a petition in Kaikoura opposing the Japanese
Government's plans to expand the slaughter of whales.

The
petition was launched by Green Party Kaikoura electorate candidate
Steffan Browning in Kaikoura due to that town's direct link with whales
through its whale-watching industry.

"Kaikoura is the
community in New Zealand most directly impacted by the Japanese plans
and local residents are clearly opposed to them," he said.

"The economic benefit of whale-watching is considerable to Kaikoura and the community is very keen to safeguard them. "

Mr Browning said the effect of getting a strong response to Japan's whaling plans out of a town like Kaikoura was critical.

"I think the local focus from a town like Kaikoura, which relies on the whales, is important," he said.

"To
get a heavy response from a town directly affected almost has more
impact that getting hundreds of thousands of signatures from around the
country. "

Mr Browning said he intended to take the petition
around Marlborough and would be at the car boot sale at the Blenheim
Railway Station on Saturday morning.

There was a possibility the petition would be taken further and would continue for another month.

"This is an ongoing issue -- we'll keep on collecting signatures," he said.

Meanwhile,
Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has applauded the petition which
she described as a "wonderful community initiative" that would send a
strong message to the Japanese Government that its whaling plans would
hurt the New Zealand whale-watching industry.

Japan's plans were a threat to the survival of beautiful, mammal species, she said.

Whales
were once a common sight off the New Zealand coast, however sightings
had become more rare, mostly due to commercial whaling undertaken by a
handful of countries.

- NZPA and NZ Herald