There’s been much talk of how to save the whales lately, with a lot of the debate revolving around an International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposal which would legitimise some commercial whaling and allow hunting to continue in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Make no mistake; this is a critical point in the whales’ campaign.
In the lead up to the release of the draft proposal the New Zealand Government was talking it up thereby attracting the wrath and disappointment of a New Zealand public which has a strong pro-conservation ethic when it comes to whales. But on Friday, when the details were announced, NZ said it was very disappointed with the result and that it was unacceptable.
But what does the proposal actually mean? And, should the NZ Government support it, or not?
Firstly, some background: the IWC, set up in 1946 and the only organisation tasked with managing whales, has been deadlocked for years, with both sides of the whaling debate proving immovable and increasingly polarized. Japan has further corrupted the process by buying favour and the membership of a number of countries to the IWC.
The IWC is out of date as an institution because it’s so difficult to change anything in such a charged and suspicious atmosphere. Consequently it is failing to protect whales from the increasing number of threats that they face in our oceans.
Two years ago a group of 12 IWC members from both of the 'warring sides' got together to see if they could find a way through. The proposal that was released on April 22 is the result. It’s the basis for negotiation, not the final product and IWC members will be talking all the way up to their meeting in mid June where they will finally make a decision.
The proposal, as it stands, is not good enough and the NZ Government agrees with us on this. It has some good features such as: establishing a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary; getting rid of all the loopholes like scientific whaling and special permits; reducing the number of whales being caught over the 10-year proposal period, and an agreement to fix the way the IWC operates so it is more relevant to the 21st century.
BUT there are some major problems with it. It contains no plan to definitively end whaling in the Sanctuary and it allows the endangered fin whale to be hunted.
The proposal says the moratorium on commercial whaling will stay, but this is a very loose interpretation. In fact, it will allow limited commercial whaling to take place in international waters (including the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary) and for whale meat to be sold in Japan. Without agreements on the restrictions on the international trade in whales this could be a disaster.
We think the New Zealand government needs to keep working with our allies in whale conservation for a stronger proposal that brings whaling to an end in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and bans any international trade in whales. The chances of achieving this may be slim but we must try.
Bunny McDiarmid
Greenpeace New Zealand Executive Director