International Whaling Commission 53: Greenpeace keep an eye on proceedings
IWC conference update: day 2
Bad news today at the IWC when measures to further protect the world's whales were undermined when South Pacific nations were denied their right to a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary (SPWS). Opposition from Japan, Norway and the block of countries that vote with Japan in return for Overseas Development Aid, prevented the sanctuary proposal from achieving the three quarters majority it needed to be adopted.
Twenty countries voted in favour of the South Pacific Whale Sanctuary, thirteen against it. Ireland, Oman, Morocco and the Solomon Islands abstained on the vote.
Today's vote followed last week's startling admission that Japan has been using development aid to buy votes at the IWC. In an interview broadcast on ABC TV last week, a senior Japanese official, Mr Komatsu, described minke whales as 'cockroaches of the sea' and admitted that Japan saw development aid as 'a major tool' in ensuring that key developing countries voted in favour of whaling at the IWC.
Japan is openly corrupting the IWC in order to prevent further conservation of whales and to advance its pro-whaling initiatives. Norway, Japan's closest ally at the IWC and the only other country that actively whales commercially, at present refuses to denounce Japanese vote buying and is actively benefiting from it.
