Guest guest Posted July 27, 2001 Report Share Posted July 27, 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,525107,00.html Bloody whaling The moratorium on killing is under siege Special report: Japan Leader Saturday July 21, 2001 The Guardian Japan's aggressive pursuit of expanded whaling is undermining the 1986 moratorium and threatening the regulatory framework created by the International Whaling Commission. So says Helen Clark, New Zealand's prime minister, and she is right. Japan again intends to block New Zealand and Australia's attempt to create a South Pacific sanctuary at next week's annual IWC meeting in London. Earlier this week, Masayuki Komatsu of Japan's fisheries agency caused justifiable outrage by describing minke whales, which Tokyo hunts for bogus scientific research, as " cockroaches of the ocean " . He boasted that Tokyo uses its overseas aid " to influence " IWC member countries. Japan denies that this linkage amounts to bribery. This is hardly credible. Why else did six Caribbean aid recipients with little or no history of whaling back Japan in last year's IWC votes? Now slaughtering Bryde's and sperm whales as well as minke, Japan is pressing for a resumption of commercial whaling to keep its gourmet diners happy. And it is not alone. Norway, which unapologetically hunts for profit, proposes to export whale products in defiance of the international ban on trade in endangered species. Airlines including British Airways, backed by the British and US governments, have commendably refused to carry such cargo. Now Iceland, too, has announced that it will resume commercial killing of minke and fin whales despite the growing importance of an eco-tourism industry offering popular whale-watching trips. If Norway and Iceland go ahead, prospective holiday-makers should stay away. As for Japan, its pig-headedness is shocking and shaming. Recent research suggests seven of 13 species protected by the 1986 ban are still at risk of extinction. Antarctic blue whales, for example, are in greater peril than ever as global warming melts the polar icecap. If the IWC cannot act effectively to stop the rot, then as Ms Clark suggests, the UN should. ===================================== http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=201352 & thesection=news & th esubsection=general Lee hails whale haven 21.07.2001 Pacific Island countries could follow French Polynesia's example and turn their territorial waters into whale havens if a bid for a South Pacific sanctuary fails, says Conservation Minister Sandra Lee. New Zealand and Australia yesterday welcomed French Polynesia's announcement that it would turn its 5 million sq km exclusive economic zone into a sanctuary for whales and other marine mammals. Australian Environment Minister Robert Hill said his Government saw this as an important step forward in protecting these " magnificent but vulnerable creatures. " French Polynesia, which is not an International Whaling Commission member, supported the Australian-New Zealand bid for a South Pacific sanctuary. The two countries are again trying to get commission agreement for the sanctuary. Member countries will consider the proposal early next week during the main decision-making plenary session of their meeting in London. The meeting is taking place amid a row generated by Japanese fisheries official Maseyuku Komatsu's admission that his country used foreign aid to buy the support of small nations for its pro-whaling stance. The Herald has been told that Japan offered aid to Tonga and the Solomon Islands to vote against the sanctuary. At last year's commission meeting in Adelaide, New Zealand and Australia failed to muster the 75 per cent majority needed under commission rules to impose the whale sanctuary. Eighteen nations supported it while 11, including six small Caribbean island states, opposed it. Ms Lee said French Polynesia had shown another course of action if New Zealand and Australia could not win commission agreement for the sanctuary. New Zealand might have to consider how the French Polynesian initiative could be translated into a form other Pacific Island countries could adopt, she said. The proposed sanctuary would stretch from Papua New Guinea in the west to Pitcairn Island and French Polynesia in the east. Its southern boundary would bisect the North Island at latitude 40 deg south, through Wanganui, where the existing Southern Ocean sanctuary begins. Australia's Mr Hill said two issues were likely to determine the proposal's fate: its scientific basis and evidence of support from South Pacific countries. Rampant whaling during the 19th and 20th centuries had devastated populations, he said. Since the commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, some species had begun to recover. " However, research indicates this recovery is happening very slowly - even the humpbacks seen migrating up the eastern coast of Australia in larger numbers this season are only approaching a fraction of their pre-exploitation population. " Mr Hill said that although French Polynesia was not a member of the commission, its statement of support was further evidence of strong backing within the region the sanctuary would cover. - NZPA ================================ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=201125 & thesection=news & th esubsection=general Whale bribe row pulls in Tonga, Solomons 20.07.2001 By ANNE BESTON As the row over Japan offering aid in return for votes to support whaling escalated yesterday, it was revealed that other tiny Pacific Island states have come under pressure. The Herald has been told the Solomon Islands and Tonga have both been targeted by Japan in a bid to sway voting on whaling. The vote-buying scandal erupted yesterday after Japanese fisheries agency head Maseyuku Komatsu admitted that Japan offered aid to countries to vote against a New Zealand proposal for a South Pacific whale sanctuary. Prime Minister Helen Clark has called on Japan to explain its actions at next week's International Whaling Commission meeting in London, when the proposal will be voted on for the second time. While Mr Komatsu yesterday tried to deny he had said Japan used the offer of aid to get six Caribbean countries to vote against a South Pacific whale sanctuary, a BBC report quoting Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Lester Bird appeared to confirm the vote-buying. Mr Bird told a BBC reporter his country accepted aid for supporting Japan's pro-whaling stance, particularly on hunting minke whales. " So long as the whales are not an endangered species, I don't see any reason why, if we are able to support the Japanese, and the quid pro quo is that they are going to give us some assistance, I am not going to be a hypocrite. That is part of why we do so, " he said. His admission was seen as a clear signal that Antigua and Barbuda will again vote against the South Pacific whale sanctuary proposal when it comes up again at the IWC on Tuesday night (New Zealand time). The proposal was lost 18 votes to 11 at the IWC meeting in Australia last year. New Zealand was disappointed when the six crucial votes from the Caribbean states went against the proposal. New Zealand needs 75 per cent of the 41 member countries of the IWC to get the proposal passed. Although Tonga is not a member of the IWC, and therefore will not cast a vote, it is part of the South Pacific Forum, which has expressed support for the sanctuary. Sydney-based Greenpeace oceans campaigner Denise Boyd said the smaller Pacific Island nations usually banded together on regional issues. Support by Tonga for the sanctuary could have some impact on the attitude to whaling of neighbours such as the Solomon Islands. She said Japanese officials had visited Tonga this year and wanted to discuss whaling and aid at the same meeting. That was rejected by Tonga, she said, but it indicated how far Japan was prepared to go to get support for a resumption of commercial whaling. " Japan has decided it's now war on whales, and countries like the Solomon Islands are heavily dependent on Japanese aid. " Speaking from London, New Zealand's IWC Commissioner, Jim McLay, said the New Zealand delegation was furiously lobbying as the vote drew near, but it would be a close call. " It's tight, there's no doubt about that, but we have just got to see how things pan out. " Conservation Minister Sandra Lee was due to arrive in London tonight to lead New Zealand's campaign for the sanctuary. =============================== http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,2399200%255E17 02,00.html One whale freed, second entangled >From AP July 21, 2001 MARINE scientists today freed a North Atlantic right whale tangled in rope but a second whale has evaded human helpers and continues swimming north with a rope embedded in its jaw. Two whale watching vessels assisted rescuers who untangled the first whale from rope and a buoy within hours of it being spied 50km east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, said Joanne Jarzobski, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The animal was in a vertical position, drifting slowly in the water with its mouth open and rope strung across its jaw. Rescuers approached the slow-moving whale, attached a line to the one in its mouth, then cut both free. It swam away without serious injury. " We like to have a good ending right away, " said Jarzobski. The successful rescue came as another right whale, dubbed Churchill, swam north toward Nova Scotia, Canada, where scientists are planning another rescue attempt, possibly this weekend. Churchill was spotted on June 8 off Cape Cod. Rescuers have approached it five times but have not been able to remove a marine line causing an infection that is expected to kill the whale. There are only about 300 North Atlantic right whales left in the world. ============= ==^================================================================ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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