Majority of Commission Votes to Resume Whaling
Support Not Yet Enough to Overturn Ban
IWC delegate Joji Morishita, of Japan's Fisheries Agency, confers with other delegates during the annual International Whaling Commission conference.
(By Brennan Linsley -- Associated Press)
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Monday, June 19, 2006
FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts, June 18 -- A slim majority of countries on the International Whaling Commission voted Sunday in support of a resumption of commercial whaling, but the nations still lack the numbers needed to overturn a 20-year-old ban.
The resolution, approved 33 to 32 with one abstention, declares that the moratorium on commercial whaling was meant to be temporary and is no longer needed.
But to reverse the ban imposed in 1986, another vote supported by 75 percent of the commission's 70 members would be required.
The meeting on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts was thrown into chaos after the vote on the resolution, drafted by six Caribbean nations and backed by the major pro-whaling nations Norway, Iceland, Japan and Russia. The United States voted against the measure.
But it was not immediately clear what impact the resolution would have.
"This shows the power balance is shifting, but it really shows that both sides need to sit down, compromise and stop yelling from the trenches," said Rune Frovik of pro-whaling group High North Alliance.
Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for the Japanese delegation, said the vote was a "historic moment."
"It's the first serious setback for those against whaling in years. It's only a matter of time before the commercial ban is overturned," he said.
Delegates from small Caribbean and African countries said the resolution, the first of its kind since the ban, was needed to force the commission to take up its original mandate of managing whale hunts -- not banning them altogether. The backers have been pushing to lift the ban, saying it was a way to protect fish stocks from whales and give their small islands food security.
"We're dealing with an ecosystem where whales are on top of the food chain," said Daven Joseph, a delegate from St. Kitts and Nevis.
"That's like blaming woodpeckers for deforestation," countered Vassili Papastavrou, a whale biologist for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "The real issue is overfishing, not whales."
