David @ Tokyo

The number of IWC member nations has moved to 73 now, with Cyprus on the 26th of February joining other recent additions, Croatia and Slovenia.

These three new European members are all unlikely to vote against the wishes of the anti-whaling NGOs on any matter, and while one or two sustainable use members might join the IWC prior to the plenary in May, votes appear to no longer be particularly relevant to the future of the IWC.


This year's meeting will be very interesting:

• We've got the JARPA review report coming out. While selective quoting may provide some help for the anti-whalers, generally I think the review report will provide quite a favourable picture, as was the case in the 1997 review.

• We've got the "aboriginal subsistence" hunt quotas coming up for renewal. At the 2002 meeting, this issue blocked up proceedings for quite some time, as the USA requires 75% support of the IWC members to have it's whalers granted another 5 year catch quota.

Last year, the US commissioner made the following comments:

"What the United States wants to do is try to find a way to protect whales but at the same time recognize some harvest," he said, proposing a negotiated quota for hunting of whales no longer endangered in exchange for closing the "scientific whaling" loophole in the commercial ban. If Japan wants to hunt whales in the name of culture or science, those killings would come off its quota, he said.

He made similar comments to the BBC.

It's a somewhat different story this year (in relation to "subsistence" hunts)

"What we've said is absolutely no deals here. We're not going to make a deal with you. We're not going to be blackmailed. We're not going to be held hostage".

...

"Japan just thinks if they can get the U.S. over the barrel, then we'll come to their rescue, they can hold us hostage. And it's not going to happen."

Tough talk.

The IWC Normalization meeting called for the IWC to recognize Japan's small scale coastal whaling operations.

Labels: Cyprus

The IWC's 72nd member may not be too far off.

Cyprus, a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea, appears set to join at the behest of the United Kingdom:

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the Cypriot Government on Cyprus joining the International Whaling Conference. [99583]

Mr. Bradshaw: I have written to the Cypriot Government, and to all the other member states of the European Union that are not yet members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), urging them to join the IWC, stressing the importance of their membership.

I am pleased to say that I received a reply from my counterpart in Cyprus. He has assured me of Cyprus' commitment to conservation issues and that the Cypriot Government is looking to join the IWC in the near future. The British Embassy in Nicosia is fully engaged in supporting the Cypriot Government in this step.

The problem for the United Kingdom is that there are only so many nations in the EU that have not yet joined the IWC to vote against sustainable whaling but would be willing to sacrifice their principles in order to do so.

The nations in favour of sustainable whaling on the other hand can appeal to nations that support sustainable use all around the world for support for the principle.

Labels: Cyprus, IWC vote influence, Whaling