BUENOS AIRES -
The United States has taken over the pro-whaling
stance traditionally championed by Japan, but instead of supporting the
capture of whales for scientific research purposes, it is doing so
under the guise of aboriginal subsistence quotas. This
is one of the conclusions reached by Latin American conservationist
organizations as they prepare for the upcoming annual meeting of the
International Whaling Commission (IWC), to be held Jul. 3-5 on the
Channel Island of Jersey.
Established in 1946 to regulate the hunting and trade of whales, the
IWC is made up of 89 countries. While some of them are in favor of
commercial whaling, others maintain a conservationist stance, including
the Latin American bloc of members.
José Truda Palazzo, former Brazilian commissioner to the IWC and now
the coordinator of the Southern Right Whale Project at the Cetacean
Conservation Center of Brazil, told Tierramérica that the latest threat
is not posed by Japan but rather by the United States.
"There is considerable unease throughout the region because the U.S.
delegation, which is aggressive and unwilling to negotiate, is going to
try to retable an initiative in Jersey that would legitimize whaling,"
he said.
There is a long history behind this stance. In the face of radical
declines in the populations of many whale species and the danger of
extinction, the IWC declared an international moratorium on commercial
whaling that entered into force in 1986. Since then, Japan has used a
loophole in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
that allows for the capture of whales for scientific research purposes
in order to continue whaling.
Environmental organizations estimate that Japan captures around 400
whales a year, which is far more than would be necessary for conducting
research, and even hunts in so-called "sanctuaries" or specially
protected areas.
The United States was long viewed as a world leader in whale
conservation, but defended the allocation of a quota for subsistence
whaling by aboriginal peoples in the northwestern state of Alaska. In
2002, Japan used its majority of votes in the CBI to block this quota.
Following that defeat, considered by environmentalists as a Japanese
reprisal against U.S. conservationist leadership, the United States
remained neutral. But for the last three years, its delegates have
become even more pro-whaling than Japan.
At the last IWC annual meeting, held in 2010 in Agadir, Morocco, the
United States sought the adoption of a programme of reforms that
maintained the moratorium in general but proposed quotas for whaling and
legitimized Japan’s captures.
This proposal was rejected, among other reasons, because of the
strong opposition of Latin American countries along with others like
Australia.
In Jersey, the U.S. delegation, with the support of New Zealand, will attempt to push through its proposal once again.
"It is truly unfortunate, because (the United States) has a long
tradition of conservationism and defense of non-lethal use, and now the
U.S. delegation is pro-whaling," commented Truda Palazzo.
He believes that the change in stance is due to the fact that "in the
northern state of Alaska traditional communities have enormous
political power and they send their delegates to the IWC meetings, but
they are not authentic Eskimos who go out in boats made of animal hides
and hunt with harpoons," he said.
"They have technology and government subsidies and they don’t hunt
out of a need for survival," he added. In his opinion, this is a
domestic political issue in the United States for which the rest of the
members of the IWC are "taken hostage."
The Buenos Aires Group, as the Latin American bloc in the IWC is
known, has announced that it will continue to oppose this initiative.
The group is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay.
Roxana Schteinbarg of the Whale Conservation Institute of Argentina
agreed that the greatest cause for concern is no longer Japan but rather
the United States.
"In 2012, aboriginal whaling quotas will be up for negotiation once
again, and it is possible that the United States has made a bilateral
deal with Japan to support it now in order to get its backing for those
quotas next year," Schteinbarg told Tierramérica.
But the United States is not alone in defending aboriginal
subsistence quotas for Alaska. These quotas are also supported by
Denmark, on behalf of Greenland, as well as Russia and even the
Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. "We agree that
subsistence whaling should be allowed, but we don’t believe this to be
the case in most of these countries," Schteinbarg added.
In countries that defend an aboriginal subsistence quota, she said,
explosives are used to capture the whales, and whale meat is sold in
supermarkets in Greenland, for example, which clearly demonstrates that
this is in fact a case of commercial whaling. Given this state of
affairs, it is fortunate that the Buenos Aires Group has continued to
work towards a common strategy that "could make all the difference" in
negotiations, said Schteinbarg.
In Latin America, whale watching has become a popular tourism activity that has consistently grown over the last 40 years.
There are now 18 countries in the region that promote the activity,
according to "The State of Whale Watching in Latin America", a report
published in 2008 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Global
Ocean and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
The Latin American delegates at the meeting in Jersey will propose
changes to the IWC regulations to foster greater civil society
participation, and will once again table a proposal for the creation of
the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary, an initiative that has still not
gained a consensus.
Elsa Cabrera, executive director of the Cetacean Conservation Center
of Chile, told Tierramérica that in order to expand public participation
and gain greater support for these initiatives before the meeting in
Jersey, on online petition campaign has been launched at
http://www.cerocazadeballenas.cl/.
This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers
that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialized
news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations
Development Program, United Nations Environment Program and the World
Bank.
© 2011 Inter Press Service