(JP) Plans to expand research whaling to stir up IWC

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020426a4.htm

 

Plans to expand research whaling to stir up IWC

 

SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi Pref. (Kyodo) The International

Whaling Commission opened its annual meeting Thursday

in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, with a fierce

tug-of-war expected over Japan's plan to expand its

" research whaling " and seek resumption of commercial

whaling.

The 54th meeting of the 42-member IWC began in the

Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki convention center with a

closed-door Science Committee session focusing on

science and data.

 

But stormy debate is expected as Japan aims first to

win the committee's support of its research-whaling

program, including a new plan to catch sei whales,

which the IWC wants protected, in the Northwest

Pacific.

 

The key issue will be how scientists from the 42

member countries assess Japan's claim that there are

28,000 sei whales in the waters, outnumbering the

estimated 25,000 minke whales, said Seiji Osumi,

director general of Japan's Institute of Cetacean

Research.

 

Also facing scrutiny is the recent controversial claim

by Japan that whales are consuming several times the

human catch of fish and endangering marine ecosystems.

 

Scientists coming to the venue mainly declined comment

on Japan's new expanded whaling plan.

 

But Randall Reeves from Canada said, " I don't think it

is a good idea. "

 

Vincent Ridoux, 41, from France's Marine Mammal

Research Center, said, " In general, the issues that

are studied are very interesting, " but he added that

he wants a nonlethal method of research to be

developed to allow for a reduction in whale catches.

 

A scientist from prowhaling Iceland, which aims to

rejoin the body but has been only granted observer

status, said he does not expect the IWC to allow

commercial whaling to resume " in the foreseeable

future. "

 

The monthlong series of meetings will culminate in a

May 20-24 ballot-casting plenary assembly, where 600

people are expected to participate.

 

It is the first time Japan has hosted an IWC session

since 1993, when it held the meeting in Kyoto. This

time Japan chose this western port as the venue due to

its history as the nation's major whaling base.

 

In the city's port facing the Kammon Strait dividing

Honshu and Kyushu are two whaling ships that recently

returned from the Antarctic Ocean.

 

Japan recently sparked controversy by announcing plans

to import whale meat from Norway as early as May and

to expand its research whaling in the Northwest

Pacific to add sei whales, considered an endangered

species.

 

Japan started research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean

in late 1987, the same year commercial whaling was

banned. It caught roughly the same amount of whales --

the meat of which ended up in posh restaurants -- as

its commercial whaling used to bring in but said the

purpose of the catch was to gather biological data and

that the IWC allows research whaling.

 

Antiwhaling countries and organizations condemn the

expeditions as a cover for commercial whaling.

 

Japan hopes the IWC will complete a new

resource-management scheme this year to pave the way

for a resumption of commercial whaling, although it

remains unlikely to win a breakthrough because of

anticipated opposition from antiwhaling nations.

 

Conservationists, on the other hand, are likely to

fail in their bids to enhance the 1982 moratorium on

commercial whaling by setting up more sanctuaries, as

any IWC decision requires a two-third majority

approval.

 

The program Japan plans in the Northwest Pacific from

this year involves catching up to 150 minke whales --

including 50 in coastal hunting -- 50 Bryde's whales,

10 sperm whales and 50 of the bigger sei whales.

 

Japan claims it found sei whales outnumbering minke

whales in the program's 2000-2001 preliminary

operations, while the IWC has treated the species as

one deserving protection, saying it lacks evidence to

officially estimate the species' populations.

 

Japan also included quotas for coastal hunting,

apparently to pave the way for local whaling

communities to catch minke whales after failed

attempts to do so independently as an interim relief

measure until commercial whaling resumes.

 

Expecting discussions on the so-called Revised

Management Scheme to wrap up this year, Japan plans to

propose that the moratorium, which has been place

since late 1985, be lifted.

 

As for sanctuaries, it plans to propose ending the

Indian Ocean Sanctuary, in place since 1979, in its

one-in-a-decade review process this year.

 

Whaling opponents in turn are expected to again

propose sanctuaries to increase the pressure on Japan

to abandon its research whaling, with Australia and

New Zealand seeking establishment of a South Pacific

Sanctuary and Brazil and Argentina a South Atlantic

Sanctuary.

 

The IWC is likely to again adopt a nonbinding

resolution urging Japan to stop its research programs

in the Northwest Pacific and Antarctic Ocean.

 

Last year's meeting in London ended in disarray, as

whaling nations, including Japan and Norway, proposed

that the 16-year global moratorium on commercial

whaling be lifted, a suggestion that met strong

opposition from antiwhaling countries, including the

United States, Britain and Canada.

 

The Japan Times: April 26, 2002

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