At this year's International Whaling Commission meeting, there was a new group on the scene: the International Alliance of Commercial Whale Watchers.
The alliance, a newly formed network designed to give whale-watch operators a voice in the IWC and other organizations, reflects the growing clout of a business now estimated to be worth more than $1.6 billion. Some 87 countries are involved in the whale-watching business, and many of these tour operators are located in areas where their revenues are badly needed.
At a press conference on Wednesday at the 55th annual IWC meeting in Berlin, representatives from Australia, New Zealand, and Tonga (an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean) spoke about their businesses and the effect commercial whaling would have on them.
As Wally Stone from New Zealand put it, "Anything that happens on the whales' migratory route will affect us—killings, ship strikes, pollution, etc."
Tonga's representative told an emotional story about being the son and grandson of whalers. But in 1991, he said he swam with a mother and calf in the waters off his island. The mother made eye contact, and he was so moved that he began a whale-watching business in 1996. He not only takes tourists to see the whales, but also tries to educate school children about them.
"You don't have to kill the whales to make money," he noted. "You can watch them."
Stone neatly summarized the situation for all to hear: "Our big concern is that whaling is the primary [force] here at the IWC. We think whale watching is a better approach." He then added, "At the very least, it should be on equal footing."
Judging from this new organization's presence here, they plan to do something about that unequal balance.
