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Greenpeace activists make a symbolic whale tail graveyard in opposition to the Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.
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Unable to persuade members of the International Whaling Commission
(IWC) to lift the current moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan has
embarked on a suspicious vote-buying initiative.
Since a Japanese official announced in 1999 that Japan would work to increase its friends at the IWC, a well-resourced recruitment drive has brought countries flooding into the IWC. Beginning in 2000, Guinea, Morocco, Benin, Gabon, Palau, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Suriname, Tuvalu, Mali, Kiribati, Gambia, Nauru, Cameroon, Togo, Cambodia and the Marshall Islands have all joined and have all voted solidly with Japan. It is believed that Japan has recruited approximately 22 new IWC members in this fashion. All of these countries regularly attend IWC meetings and speak in favour of a resumption of commercial whaling, voting with Japan on all occasions.
As a result of this strategy, Japan first assembled a blocking minority within the IWC. In 2005 this minority prevented the creation of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary, largely due to the votes cast against the proposal by Japan and her ‘bought countries’.
Pro-whaling nations led by Japan made significant progress - they were able to obtain a majority vote at the IWC meeting in 2006 for the first time since the moratorium on whaling was established. This led to the St Kitts and Nevis Declaration, a non-binding resolution that seeks to legitimise Japanese efforts to return the IWC to a whale hunting club with conservation as a secondary purpose.
To overcome this strategy by Japan, Greenpeace is campaigning to recruit new whale conservation minded nations to join the IWC and convince Japan’s ‘bought’ countries to change their current stance on whaling.
At the June 2005 IWC meeting, the Japanese government announced it would add endangered Antarctic fin and humpback whales its list of hunted species plus double its catch of minke whales.
A resumption of international trade in whale products would have far-reaching implications. Pirate whalers will have an even greater incentive to hunt whales covertly, as it will become easier for them to smuggle illegal whale meat into Japan. Even with the current trade ban in place, illegal whale meat from both abundant and endangered species of whales is regularly discovered on sale in Japan.
Japan's whaling commission scam
To overturn the ban, Japan needs votes at the IWC. To do this, Japan gains allies by recruiting new countries into the IWC. This recruitment process involves offering fisheries aid to economically disadvantaged countries in exchange for supporting Japan's whaling policies and voting for a resumption of commercial whaling at the IWC.Since a Japanese official announced in 1999 that Japan would work to increase its friends at the IWC, a well-resourced recruitment drive has brought countries flooding into the IWC. Beginning in 2000, Guinea, Morocco, Benin, Gabon, Palau, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Suriname, Tuvalu, Mali, Kiribati, Gambia, Nauru, Cameroon, Togo, Cambodia and the Marshall Islands have all joined and have all voted solidly with Japan. It is believed that Japan has recruited approximately 22 new IWC members in this fashion. All of these countries regularly attend IWC meetings and speak in favour of a resumption of commercial whaling, voting with Japan on all occasions.
As a result of this strategy, Japan first assembled a blocking minority within the IWC. In 2005 this minority prevented the creation of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary, largely due to the votes cast against the proposal by Japan and her ‘bought countries’.
Pro-whaling nations led by Japan made significant progress - they were able to obtain a majority vote at the IWC meeting in 2006 for the first time since the moratorium on whaling was established. This led to the St Kitts and Nevis Declaration, a non-binding resolution that seeks to legitimise Japanese efforts to return the IWC to a whale hunting club with conservation as a secondary purpose.
To overcome this strategy by Japan, Greenpeace is campaigning to recruit new whale conservation minded nations to join the IWC and convince Japan’s ‘bought’ countries to change their current stance on whaling.
More about the IWC 2006 outcomes
Japan’s scientific whaling scam
Despite the international ban on commercial whaling, and the creation of a whale sanctuary in the Southern ocean in 1994, the Japanese whaling fleet still travels south every year to hunt whales under the guise of “scientific” whaling.At the June 2005 IWC meeting, the Japanese government announced it would add endangered Antarctic fin and humpback whales its list of hunted species plus double its catch of minke whales.
Other countries that hunt whales
Japan is not the only place where “scientific” whaling is conducted. Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993 and Iceland announced, after a 14 year hiatus, that it would resume “scientific” whaling in August 2003. Iceland had previously ended its illegal commercial hunt in 1989 following worldwide boycotts and economic pressure. Both countries want to export whale meat to Japan.A resumption of international trade in whale products would have far-reaching implications. Pirate whalers will have an even greater incentive to hunt whales covertly, as it will become easier for them to smuggle illegal whale meat into Japan. Even with the current trade ban in place, illegal whale meat from both abundant and endangered species of whales is regularly discovered on sale in Japan.