Greenpeace Applauds Strong Message From Whaling Commission to Uphold B
Klaus Merkle
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Greenpeace Applauds Strong Message From Whaling Commission
to Uphold Ban on International Trade in Whale Products
GRENADA, WEST INDIES, May 26, 1999 A feared reversal of the current
ban on the trade of whale products is less likely now, after the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) today overwhelmingly supported a resolution
re-asserting its role as the world authority on whale management.
Greenpeace and other environmentalists said the move is a major step toward
preventing nations that once hunted whales commercially from resuming
the practice.
The resolution is directed toward officials of the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a treaty which currently
prohibits the sale of whale meat and other products of endangered species.
CITES member nations, which hold negotiation meetings every two years,
have traditionally honored the advice of the IWC on all matters pertaining to
whales. CITES will meet next in Nairobi in April 2000, during which Japan
and Norway, which continue to hunt whales commercially, are expected to
push for a lifting of the ban.
The easy passage of today s resolution sends a clear message to CITES
that the whales are still threatened, and in need of strong protections, said
Gerald Leape, Greenpeace s delegate to the IWC meeting, which runs through
May 29 in Grenada. We have every hope that CITES will continue to rely on
the whaling commission s scientific expertise and uphold the ban on whale trade.
Leape said lifting the CITES ban would likely spur Russia, once the top
commercial whaling nation, to resume the practice. It would also encourage nations
like Taiwan and Peru, which Greenpeace exposed as pirate whalers in the 1970s,
to resume killing any whales that swim near their coasts, including the endangered
Blue Whale. Japan has been the primary market for whale products, with whale meat
fetching up to $200 per kilo.
Today s IWC vote represents another roadblock in Japan s efforts to systematically roll
back the current restrictions on commercial whaling. Since the annual meeting opened on
May 24, Japan has been roundly voted down in its attempts to ban Greenpeace, one of its
staunchest critics on whaling, from participating in the IWC process; to overturn the
Southern Ocean whale sanctuary; and to conduct IWC votes by secret ballot.
Japan and Norway together could kill up to 1,200 whales this year. Norway openly defies
the moratorium on commercial whaling, while Japan hides its commercial hunt behind the
guise of scientific whaling.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.greenpeace.org or http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/oceans/