The International Whaling Commission may be headed for collapse
unless it manages to overcome distrust and confrontation, delegates
to a special meeting of the organization said yesterday.
Japan and like-minded nations gathered in Tokyo this week in the
hope the meeting would build momentum to resume commercial hunts,
shifting the IWC's focus to management from moratorium.
Japanese officials have termed the three-day meeting a final
attempt to save the commission by drafting proposals to submit at
its annual gathering in May. Thirty-five of the IWC's 72 members
are taking part.
But some 26 anti-whaling nations including Australia, New
Zealand and the United States have boycotted the Japanese meeting,
making prospects for dialogue within the polarized organization
slim.
"Definitely it's not going in a good direction," said Joji
Morishita, Japan's alternate commissioner to the group. "Denial of
dialogue is not good. You can say that the IWC has to change itself
or it could collapse."
Others said pro-whaling nations still want to try for change but
added patience was wearing thin.
"Something has to happen drastically so both parties can have a
win-win situation," said Amalie Jessen, a delegate from Greenland.
"That means both conservation and sustainable use."
The IWC instituted a commercial whaling ban in 1986. But the
group is now bitterly divided between countries that assert all
whales need protection and others, like Japan, that say some
species are now abundant enough for limited hunting.
Delegates to the Tokyo meeting criticized anti-whaling nations
for refusing to attend, saying that they had chosen confrontation
over compromise.
"The process for promotion of dialogue is not dead, but the
attempt cannot continue forever," Morishita said during a panel
discussion. "At some point we will have to make a decision."
Japan, which says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition,
began scientific research whaling in 1987.
The meat, which under commission rules must be sold for
consumption, ends up in supermarkets and restaurants but appetite
for what is now a delicacy is fading.
Some experts say Japan fears that limits on whaling will lead to
limits on all Japanese fishing, a crucial food source in a nation
with limited agricultural land. Others argue the whaling campaign
is a form of nationalist diplomacy.
(China Daily via agencies February 15, 2007)
