Japan loses first tussle in whaling talks

7.50am - By ROBIN POMEROY

SORRENTO, Italy - Japan lost the first battle in a war to turn back years of anti-hunting agreements at the International Whaling Commission on Monday when countries rejected its motion to hold votes in secret.

Conservation groups, which accuse Japan of enticing developing countries to join the body and vote with it, welcomed the outcome which indicated the majority of the 57 members were still largely opposed to whaling.

"It looks like the pro-conservation majority will hold for another year," said Susan Lieberman of the WWF, but she added the majority might be as slim as just a single vote as most of the newer member countries would likely side with the hunters.

Anti-whalers say secret votes would let countries proclaim their opposition to whaling in public while cutting backroom deals to let it happen.

Japan, which views whaling as a noble tradition and whale meat as a prized delicacy, lost the vote 29 to 24, with a handful of states barred from voting for administrative reasons.

Japan and other whaling states like Norway and Iceland want to overturn a ban on commercial whaling the IWC imposed in 1986.

The body was created in 1946 to control what was then a global industry and ensure whales were not hunted to extinction.

JAPANESE PRESSURE

Japan believes there are plenty of some species of whales. A Japanese delegate told Reuters if the IWC does not replace the moratorium with a system of sustainable whaling quotas by this time next year, it will quit the group.

To make its point, it tabled a request to catch 2,914 minke whales from the Antarctic Ocean -- declared a whale sanctuary by the IWC.

It says the annual quota would be just 0.05 per cent of the population and no threat to the species. But at current market prices it would be worth up to $300 million.

Japan already kills some 440 minkes there a year under a clause allowing scientific research and the meat ends up on the tables of restaurants and sushi bars fetching $50 million.

The request has no chance of being granted as it needs 75 per cent of the votes, but it sets a direct challenge to the IWC to allow whaling to resume if it can be shown to be sustainable.

Japan's pro-whaling stance is backed by many of the developing nations at the IWC.

"We have been perplexed to realise that a whale that consumes three-to-four times its own body weight continues to be seen as a resource that should be untouched by humans at a time that the nations of the world strive to find food for their people," the representative of new member Suriname said.

MONEY TALKS

Conservation groups dismiss such arguments, saying whales mostly feed in areas and on organisms not fished by humans.

They accuse Japan of trying to buy votes among the newer members. Four of the six states joining this year, Tuvalu, Mauritania, Ivory Coast and Suriname are broadly in line with Japan's position.

"Some of the poorest developing countries in the world are being used to vote in favour of whaling," said Greenpeace campaigner John Frizell. "This is a clear case of money talks."

Japan rejects the accusation, saying the countries joining have legitimate concerns about the impact of whales on fisheries, often the main source of income for coastal states.

Far from opening up to environmentally sustainable whaling, many in the opposition camp said they want it banned for good.

New Zealand has tabled a non-binding resolution expressing concerns over how whales are killed. It has a fair chance of passing since, unlike legislative measures, it only needs a simple majority.

Green groups fear those kinds of anti-hunting resolutions, a common feature of the IWC's work in recent years, would be stopped if new members supported traditional whaling nations.

- REUTERS