DISASTER LOOMS FOR WHALES

[Anonymous]

Disaster looms for whales
Caribbean nation St Kitts to host a disaster for whales
Japan poised to control the International Whaling Commission
June
2006Frigate Bay, Saint Kitts and Nevis – The international body charged
by the UN with protecting the whales is about to be taken over by the
world’s most consistently and aggressively pro-whaling government. How
could this happen? In an environmentally aware world, why are we seeing
a roll back of 20 years of progress on such a fundamental issue? The
answer lies is in a tangle of politics, economics and international
bureaucracy, and reveals there might be hope for the future of the
whales after all.

The reality of vote buying
The
main reason behind this reversal is the Japanese government’s
determined, and expensive, vote buying program.  Japan has one of the
world’s largest economies (third globally by purchasing power), and it
is no secret Japan leverages foreign aid for political gain.  As
reported recently in the Taipei Times:Earlier this year it [Japan]
pledged more than US$1 million to the Pacific island of Tuvalu, a
pro-whaling IWC member, and has reached similar deals with Nauru and
Kiribati and other desperately poor countries in the Pacific. Last week
it is believed to have offered a large aid package to other Pacific
countries. It has also invited the heads of state of seven African
countries and eight Caribbean and Central American countries to visit
Tokyo in the last year. All are expected to vote with Japan at St
Kitts.At least US$300 million was given last year to Antigua, Dominica,
Grenada, Panama, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and St Kitts
and Nevis.Japan’s whalers are so certain their control of the IWC is
assured, last whaling season they increased their self allotted
Antarctic quota to a maximum of 945 whales – including 10 endangered
fin whales (second in size only to blue whales).  In the 2007/8 it goes
higher as they up the number of fin to 50, and add another 50
endangered humpbacks on top of that.  The whalers already catch so many
whales there isn’t room on their factory ship for all the meat, and a
refrigerated cargo ship is sent to the Antarctic to take boxes of whale
meat back to Japan.  Even still, they dump tons of whale overboard –
taking home only the more profitable cuts.  After all, why not?  Who is
there to tell them otherwise?  Up till now, the IWC has regularly
condemned Japan’s so called “scientific” whaling, but with the whaler’s
in control it will more likely pat them on the back.

Governments stand up to whaling
Some
of the governments that helped enact the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
(1994) and moratorium on commercial whaling (1986) have, in fact, tried
to protect these gains. This past year 17 nations (including Brazil,
Australia and the UK) issued a strongly worded diplomatic demarche
pointing out:”Japan is now killing more whales in the Antarctic every
year than it killed for scientific research in the 31 years prior to
the introduction of the moratorium on commercial whaling.”The
governments further expressed “grave concerns” that the ongoing hunt,
“will undermine the long-term viability,” of both fin and humpback
whales.  But it looks like this strong diplomatic action, and
ministerial level visits to some new IWC members, will not be enough to
keep Japan from taking over.  The reality is that the Japanese
government has chosen to spend more money and political capital on
whaling than governments in favour of protecting the whales.  There is
on some levels probably a disbelief that the whalers can win back
control of the IWC – intuitively it just doesn’t make sense considering
the mess they made of it before sanity prevailed in the early
eighties.  But for years now the warning signs have been clear.  No
matter what happens at this year’s meeting, it should be a wake up call
for the conservation minded governments of the world.

So who is there left to stop whaling?
Mostly
the people reading these words.  From here on it’s largely down to us. 
And around the world individuals are banding together in common cause
to defend the whales.  During the last whaling season we took on Nissui
– one of the world’s largest seafood companies and also a one-third
shareholder in Kyodo Senpaku, which owns and operates the whaling
fleet.  Across the planet, Nissui subsidiaries heard from angry
shoppers.  Organizations like the Humane Society and Environmental
Investigations Agency joined in. Greenpeace Ocean Defenders sent a
total of 100,000 emails to Nissui-related companies. And Nissui lost
seafood supply contracts in Argentina after Ocean Defenders placed
stickers denouncing whaling on Nissui products in supermarkets and sent
more than 20,000 emails.  Before the whaling season was over, Nissui
had decided to get out of the whaling industry because, as reported in
the Nikkan Kugyo Shimbun “Overseas subsidiaries are having big
problems. As our business has globalized, whaling has become a hidden
risk”, said Mr. Naoya Itagaki, the president of Nissui which takes the
brunt of the criticisms against its involvement in whaling because of
their share holding position in Kyodo-Senpaku.
(June 8th 2006, morning edition, Greenpeace translation)
In
reality, Nissui’s move was simply good business sense.  Aside from
international pressure, demand for whale meat has plummeted, even in
Japan.  Stockpiles of whale meat there have nearly doubled over the
last decade to 5,000 tonnes.  There’s so much unwanted whale meat that
it’s being sold as doggie treats, and an expanded school lunch program
is in the works – with the hope of getting Japanese kids used to eating
it.  The whaling industry in Norway is experiencing similar
difficulties.Would Japan’s take over of the International Whaling
Commission be a disastrous setback for the whales?  Yes.  But would it
be the end of the story?  We will see about that.

[Author]

June 19, 2006 at 1:11 PM