Short report on events at IWC59
The 59th Annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Anchorage witnessed a victory for whales across the globe. A strong majority of IWC member governments expressed their support for the continuation of the ban on commercial whaling and other whale conservation efforts.
The 2006 meeting had seen pro-whaling countries gain a slim majority vote in the IWC for the first time since the ban on commercial whaling was adopted. Pro-whaling nations including the eastern Caribbean countries used this majority to adopt the St. Kitts Declaration, which stated that commercial whaling should resume as soon as possible. At the 2007 May meeting a resolution was passed which rejected this position and reaffirmed IWC support for the commercial whaling ban.
Five new pro-conservation countries joined the IWC - Equador, Croatia, Guatemala, Greece and Slovenia - bringing the total number of members to 77. Guinea-Bissau and Laos also joined expressing their support for commercial whaling, however other countries that have supported Japan's position in the past such as Cameroon, Nicaragua and Togo were not present at the meeting to vote.
Much of the meeting was taken up with the discussion of aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) quotas for the United States, Greenland, Russian Federation and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The quotas were renewed for five years, with Greenland obtaining an addition 25 minke whales and 2 bowhead whales to their previous years' quota.
Japan withdrew its proposal for coastal minke whaling, which would have effectively lifted the moratorium on commercial whaling. Despite lengthy negotiations during the week, with 50 humpback whales as their bargaining chip, it was clear that Japan would not gain even 50% of the votes, let alone the 75% it needed.
A Resolution condemning Japan's 'scientific whaling' in the Antarctic was passed with 40 votes in favour, 2 votes against and 1 abstention. Japan led a pro-whaling block of 27 countries (including the eastern Caribbean countries) which decided to not participate in the vote rather than vote no, but either way there was a clear majority for the anti-whaling countries. The Scientific Committee has still not been able to agree an abundance estimate for southern hemisphere minke whales, although Japan continues to state that there are 760,000, a number which is now not accepted by the Scientific Committee. The Government sponsored 'scientific' catch in the southern ocean whale sanctuary this year could total 950 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales.
Brazil and Argentina once again proposed the establishment of a whale sanctuary (similar to that in the Southern Ocean) in the South Atlantic. The sanctuary was blocked by pro-whaling nations, including Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis and St. Lucia who all voted against the sanctuary. St. Vincent & the Grenadines abstained from the vote. The sanctuary proposal obtained a substantial majority vote in favour (39 votes in favour, 29 against and 3 abstentions), but fell short of the 3/4 majority vote required for its adoption. Latin American countries were successful in passing a resolution recognizing the legitimacy of whale watching within the IWC's management of whales.
A resolution on the Vaquita was adopted by consensus in the wake of the extinction of the baiji. Although Japan and other pro-whaling countries did not block the consensus they did not actually join it, once again demonstrating their total lack of interest in the conservation of cetaceans within the IWC, even those that are critically endangered. The Resolution called on all IWC members to support efforts to save the vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise species which numbers just a few hundred animals in the Gulf of California.
The future of the IWC was a central theme in the discussions throughout the meeting, and a separate meeting is planned to focus on this before next year's annual meeting in Chile.
