Minke whale killed by whalers
Japanese vote-buying thwarts sanctuary proposal
Despite the support of all the countries in the region, the proposal for the creation of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary did not receive the required � majority vote needed to pass at this year�s meeting of the IWC in Adelaide. The failure of the joint Australia/New Zealand proposal can be attributed to the vote buying strategy employed by Japan to thwart further conservation measures being taken forward by the IWC. In exchange for economic aid, six eastern Caribbean nations, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines all vote in line with Japan and therefore opposed the sanctuary proposal.
The continuing manipulation of these countries by Japan was thrown into sharp relief by the news that Dominica�s Minister of Planning, Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, Atherton Martin, resigned on hearing that Dominica�s IWC Commissioner had voted against the sanctuary proposal. In a letter explaining the background to his resignation, Atherton Martin, stated that �there is absolutely no reason for us to be held to ransom by Japan or any country or agency in return for promises of aid.� This is the first time that an official from within the administration of one of these countries has exposed how Japan has bought the complicity of the eastern Caribbean in the IWC.
Despite the failure to secure the South Pacific Whale Sanctuary this year, both Australia and New Zealand pledged that they would bring the proposal back to next year�s meeting, a commitment welcomed by Greenpeace.
IWC voices strong opposition to Japan's plans to extend 'scientific whaling'
Greenpeace�s other main priority for this year�s IWC was ensuring that a strong resolution was passed against Japan�s proposed extension of its so-called �scientific� whaling in the North Pacific to include two new species � sperm and Bryde�s whales.
Elliot Morley, the UK Fisheries Minister, made a particularly strong intervention, drawing attention to the increased commercial value from the hunt if Bryde�s whales are included and the UK Government�s concern that the plans represent �not just a feasibility study for a research programme but also a feasibility study for the resumption of full-scale pelagic whaling�. He finished by stating that the UK considers this a serious political issue and that the UK will continue to pursue this matter with the Japanese Government both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Following the debate on this issue, a resolution was passed by the IWC condemning the Japanese plan (known as JARPN II) which states that: gathering information on interactions between whales and prey species is not a critically important issue which justifies the killing of whales for research purposes.
Fewer Antarctic minkes than previously thought
For many years Japan has based its argument for a resumption of commercial whaling around Antarctica on its population estimate of 760,000 for the number of minke whales inhabiting the Southern Ocean. However at this year�s IWC, the IWC�s Scientific Committee agreed that this estimate was no longer valid and that the real number is likely to be �appreciably lower�. When questioned about the Scientific Committee�s findings, the chair of the Scientific Committee would not be drawn on how much lower a revised estimate would likely to be and did not rule out the possibility that the Antarctic minke population had suffered a decline.
