IWC Meeting In Chile
Ends Without Agreement
The 60th International
Whaling Commission
meeting (IWC) concluded
here on Friday without
reaching an agreement on
stopping whale hunting
in the world, leaving
conservationist
countries and
environmentalist groups
seeking to stop
indiscriminate whale
hunting mainly by Japan,
Iceland and Norway
frustrated.
"I think it was a
frustrating week for the
whales," said Ralf
Sonntag of the
International Fund for
Animal Welfare (IFAW).
"Japan comes back home
without a vote or
resolution against them
and Iceland began a new
round of commercial
whale hunting just
before this conference,"
Sonntag said.
"So, they (Japan,
Iceland and Norway) are
not taking this
seriously. Nothing has
been achieved in favor
of the whales," Sonntag
complained.
Countries against whale
killing, led by
Australia, expressed
their deep shock because
Japan will continue
hunting hundreds of
whales every year under
the pretext of
"scientific research",
in defiance of the world
moratorium since 1986.
The Japanese fleet hunt
some 1,400 whales per
year, whose meat is
commercialized in the
country as local people
traditionally consume
the meat.
But the meeting did not
have a confrontational
character, as it used
to, because the IWC's 80
member countries
declined to vote on
prickly issues.
Argentine delegate
Miguel Iniguez said "we
hope to finish the
modernizing process of
the commission to reduce
the number of captured
whales."
Conservationists did get
a small triumph,
however, when they
blocked Greenland's
proposal on raising to
10 the hunchbacked
whales the hunting fee
for its natives.
"Whaler countries still
have the so-called
scientific hunting, that
it is not regulated and
that they will continue
hunting as they will,"
said Mick McIntyre,
director of the
conservationist group
"Whales Alive".
The Australian
delegation was opposed
to whales hunting and
suggested that Japan
conduct non-lethal
research on whales. They
also expressed their
disagreement with the
result of the IWC
meeting.
During the IWC meeting,
Chile and Australia
signed a memorandum to
perform non-lethal
scientific
investigations on
whales.
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