Posted on behalf of Anjali Nayar
Talks on a compromise proposal to end the 25-year ban on commercial whaling while improving protection measures afforded to the marine mammals fell apart this week at the meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Agadir, Morocco.
Although some groups went into the meetings hoping for a political compromise, others say it is no surprise that the talks – an attempt to resolve 10 years of disagreement over the management of whaling – failed.
“The Chairman’s proposal was developed within too narrow a circle of member nations and was released without sufficient time for input from the IWC Scientific Committee or concerned NGOs,” says C. Scott Baker, the associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University.
Sidney Sydney Holt, a a consultant in fisheries management science whale specialist with the Mammal Society*, adds, “It was obvious it could not possibly attract a consensus – too many illogicalities and even illegalities, and that it could take weeks, not days, to amend it to a semblance of acceptability.”
Many non governmental organizations have been quick to point blame at Japan. “The lack of sufficient flexibility shown by Japan to phase out it’s whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary prevented a decision from being adopted,” says Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group.
Others say the proposal fell apart because of the NGOs who “wield considerable influence on many governments on this issue”, in the words of Doug Butterworth, a professor in applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town, who uses mathematical models to develop management procedures for whales. “There is no scientific argument here, as the levels of take proposed do not represent any real threat to the populations involved.”
Butterworth suggests the real debate is about whether or not whales should be harvested for human consumption. “Those holding the ‘not’ view are also not prepared to compromise on that, even if it means more whales actually being hunted in the immediate future,” he says.
Some groups felt that the postponement was a victory for whale conservation. The National Resources Defence Council Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental NGO based in New York, claimed it upholds the current ban on whaling, “one of the 20th century’s most iconic conservation victories”.
“What’s being called a ‘compromise’ wasn’t one at all – it was a capitulation to pro-whaling interests at the expense of the whales,” says Taryn Kiekow, a staff attorney with NRDC’s marine mammal protection program. “Legitimizing commercial whaling would have rewarded Japan, Norway, and Iceland – which have continued to kill tens of thousands of whales despite the moratorium – for their years of flagrant defiance of international law.”
According to the NRDC, roughly 38,000 whales were killed annually between 1945 and 1986. Since the 1986 moratorium, that average dropped to 1,240 whales.
But other groups say that a compromise could actually help rein in the killings.
“The continuation of the impasse here may retain the moratorium on paper but unregulated whaling outside of IWC control by Japan, Norway and Iceland will be able to continue,” says Lieberman.
The Commission has left the agenda item open and the proposal could be re-discussed before the IWC meetings finish this week. However, some parties have asked to for a year-long hiatus before another round of negotiations.
The issue will likely come up in the special session on whales at the UN General Assembly in September and then again at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD] in Japan in October.
The failure of the whaling meetings follows a slew of other international conservation disappointments at this year’s meetings on the Covention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), including protection for Atlantic bluefin tuna, several species of shark and coral, says Lieberman.
“The [CBD] conference will give Japan the opportunity to finally reverse course and show true leadership in marine biodiversity conservation,” she says.
*Updated 24 June.