Save the whales, not the whalers

[n2doc]

09 April 2010 by Mark Simmonds and Sue Fisher

IN 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented a moratorium on commercial whaling. Many people believed that this would save the whales and end forever the industrial slaughter that had decimated entire species.

Not so. A proposal before the IWC could lead to the resumption of commercial whaling as early as next year. If it passes - and there is a real chance that it will - one of the greatest conservation successes of our time will be wiped out.

Even with the moratorium in place, hundreds of whales are still killed every year. This is because the IWC allows members to make unilateral objections to its decisions. Norway objects to the moratorium and hunts minke whales commercially. The IWC also allows nations to grant themselves "special permits" for research. Japan exploits this provision for commercial ends through so-called "scientific whaling" in the north Pacific and the Southern Ocean - even though the IWC has designated the area as a sanctuary. Iceland left the IWC in 1992 but rejoined 10 years later with a controversial "reservation" to the moratorium. It, too, continues to hunt commercially. The three whaling nations now kill around 1600 whales a year.

This is a source of conflict at the IWC. One indicator of the scale of the conflict is the remarkable expansion of the IWC from 41 members in 1986 to 88 today, as pro-whaling nations recruit allies to their cause and anti-whaling nations follow suit to maintain parity. Neither side is close to securing the three-quarters majority needed to make binding decisions, but the whaling nations have enough votes to prevent their opponents from tackling their self-allocated quotas.

more

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627555.800-save-the-whales-not-the-whalers.html

[stray cat]

1. Are whalers non-union then?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. "one of the greatest conservation successes of our time will be wiped out." Hyperbole Much?

[Chulanowa]

3. Not at all

The success would be pretty much annulled by going "Ah fuck it, let's start killing the things all over again" - and commercial treatment of whales could very easily take them back to the brink of extinction.

But hey, anything for a buck, right?