Pro-whaling lobby may make gains at IWC meet - group
Date: 20-May-02
Country: JAPAN
Author: Elaine Lies
Portugal and Mongolia have joined the IWC just ahead of the five-day meeting meeting in Shimonoseki - a traditional Japanese whaling centre - joining other recent new members Benin, Gabon, Palau and San Marino, IWC officials said.
Benin, Gabon and Palau are seen by observers as likely to vote for whaling, Portugal and landlocked San Marino against. The stance of Mongolia was not immediately known.
The IWC pits whaling nations such as Japan and Norway against those backing environmentalists who are opposed to what they see as the slaughter of endangered and intelligent mammals.
"This is the closest it's been for a very long time, probably since the moratorium," said Sarah Tyack from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"With a simple majority the pro-whalers could pass many resolutions which could encourage or support some whaling."
The growing membership could have a significant impact on future IWC policy, as Japan continues a push to overturn a 1986 commercial whaling moratorium and expand its programme of research whaling begun in 1987, anti-whaling activists said.
Tokyo says scientific expeditions to kill whales are essential for information about how they live, including the amount and kind of fish they eat, but activists and scientists say there are non-lethal ways to do such studies.
The environmentalists claim Japan has promised aid to countries who join the IWC and back its pro-whaling position.
Both Japanese officials and activists say it is highly unlikely that pro-whalers will gain a three-quarters majority needed to end the moratorium but other policy changes could be made.
But environmentalists feared that the numbers in the 48-member international organisation would enable Japan to push through longstanding policies such as secret ballots at the IWC - allowing nations to vote for whaling without being identified.
JAPANESE LIKE WHALE MEAT
Around 100 nationalists waving Japanese flags marched on the weekend near the convention centre 825 km (490 miles) southwest of Tokyo where the May 20-24 meeting will be held, shouting "Preserve Japanese food culture". Others blared their views loudly from sound trucks.
At a Shimonoseki fish market, shoppers chose between fresh whale meat and salted whale bacon, while expressing hope that whaling would be freed up at the five-day meeting.
"Eating whale is a part of Japanese culture from a long time ago," said Hisanori Hirata, a dentist finishing a plate of sushi not far from where blocks of raw whale meat and whale skin were on display. "Certainly the life of animals is important, but the life of people is important too."
Japan, which argues that whales decimate stocks of fish, wants to sharply increase the number of whales killed in the northern Pacific and add to its scientific hunting programme the 15 metre (49 ft) sei whale, a smaller relative of the fin whale, which environmentalists say is endangered.
Tokyo proposes to take 150 minkes, 50 more than last season. It also wants to take 50 sei whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 10 sperm whales in addition to the 400 minkes it hunts around Antarctica each year.
Whale sanctuaries, where no hunting is allowed, will also be debated at the meeting. An Indian Ocean sanctuary is up for review and efforts will again be made to establish sanctuaries in the Southern Hemisphere.
MONGOLIAN ROLE QUESTIONED
The decision by landlocked Mongolia, around 700 km (435 miles) from the nearest ocean, to join the IWC rekindled debate over whether Japan was signing up new members with promises of aid in return for votes.
"It's hard to imagine why Mongolia would suddenly develop an interest in whaling," said Simon Ready, an anti-whaling campaigner with the environmental group Greenpeace.
"For the first time in many, many years, the pro-whalers may have a majority."
Vote-buying is a longstanding claim which Japanese officials strongly reject. They point out that Tokyo provides aid to 150 n
