By Rebecca Regnery
The 57th meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Ulsan, South Korea was supposed to be Japan's renaissance, the time when the pro-whaling nation and its handful of allies would rise and exert their collective will on a commission that has, in recent years, shown an interest in conservation, not a taste for blood.
By the time the final gavel fell on Friday, June 24, Japan had realized none of its power plays at the IWC. All of the grand plans plotted in the Land of the Rising Sun sunk to the bottom when floated at this year's meeting. When Japan didn't secure the majority vote, as many had feared, the country lost control of the meeting agenda. As such, Japan failed to remove any conservation topics from the agenda: humane killing, whale sanctuaries, environmental threats, and the Conservation Committee.
To some observers, however, all of Japan's defeats served as an ominous sign of things to come: The country, and its pro-whaling allies Norway and Iceland, will only be satisfied when the IWC allows unrestricted, full-scale commercial whaling. At the end of the 57th meeting, Japan once again threatened to bring more pro-whaling allies to the next meeting, with every intention of overturning the 19-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling.
Whether Japan can ever make good on that threat is a point of contention with some observers, but at least for now, Japan must remain satisfied with its so-called scientific whaling program, which has been greatly expanded for this year's hunt.
"This year's meeting highlighted the fact that despite the deep divisions within the IWC, Japan and friends were not able to topple the whales' best hope for survival," said Patricia Forkan, president of Humane Society International. "Today conservation and welfare prevailed. Next year, however, Japan made it clear by words and deeds that it will continue unfettered whaling whatever the diplomatic price is in the long run."
Showing Its Cards
If anyone harbored any doubts about Japan's intentions, the country erased them on Tuesday when it proposed a Revised Management Scheme (RMS) that combined a lifting of the moratorium with no effective controls for preventing whaling nations from once again hunting whales to the brink of extinction. The Japanese also showed no interest in curbing their ever-expanding scientific whaling program, despite serious condemnation by a majority of member governments.
"One can only assume from their actions, that Japan would rather seek a whaling regime on par or below the worst international practices," said Kitty Block, director of Treaty Law, Oceans and Wildlife Protection for HSI.
Japan's RMS bid fell well short of its needed three-quarters majority to pass: The vote was 23 in favor, 29 opposed, and five abstentions.
While Japan's was the only RMS proposal on the table, two other resolutions were put forward to set a process for finalizing an RMS. The resolutions required only simple majorities.
Denmark and Korea proposed a resolution, which set out a process for adopting a seriously compromised RMS next year. Despite being pitched as a balanced compromise, their resolution sought to narrow the RMS negotiations to only non-binding voluntary guidelines to stop the abuses of scientific whaling. Their proposal would have also included pitiful compliance measures for commercial whaling and no penalties to enforce the weakest of regulations. What's more, it aimed to downgrade any consideration of animal welfare and do away with sanctuaries.
The Danish and Korean resolution began with six co-sponsors on Thursday, June 23, but overnight, after strong lobbying from the conservation countries and non-governmental organizations, Finland, The Netherlands, Oman, Sweden, and Switzerland withdrew their support. Some even ended up voting against it. The resolution failed spectacularly, with only the two sponsors voting in favor. Twenty-six nations voted against the proposal, and there were 27 abstentions.
Instead, IWC members passed a neutral resolution from Ireland, Germany and South Africa, one that sought to keep the RMS negotiations going, but with all options on the table, including measures that are "best practice" in fisheries agreements. Significantly, this resolution recognizes the need for a high-level ministerial meeting to address abuse of the scientific whaling and reservation loopholes enshrined in the convention itself.
The resolution passed with 25 in favor, three opposed, and 28 abstaining. The United States and the United Kingdom voted in favor, while Australia abstained, upholding its uncompromising opposition to the resumption of commercial whaling.
HSI now anticipates a diplomatic or ministerial conference to deal with the convention's fundamental loopholes. "It is clear that the abuses of scientific whaling and opt-out provisions cannot be dealt with in an RMS. It is time to address the real problems of this commission by amending the convention that allows Japan, Iceland, and Norway to circumvent the moratorium," said Block.
Notably, Japan abstained on both RMS resolutions, as did Norway and Iceland. "This is significant because these countries have been claiming for decades that they want an RMS in place to regulate whaling," said Block. "The truth of the matter is that they really don't want an effective RMS because they don't want the IWC to control their whaling in any significant way."
Trading Punches
Unbowed by the defeat of its own RMS, Japan shot back with yet another attempt to add a new whaling category, called "small type coastal whaling." The proposal would have allowed "coastal villages" in Japan to kill 150 minke whales a year, despite the fact that Japan's scientific program in the North Pacific, as well as Japanese fisheries which are allow to sell commercially the whales they land as "bycatch," more than satisfy this apparent coastal need.
Delegates saw through Japan's rhetoric on coastal whaling and shot it down, in a vote of 26 for, 29 against, and one abstention. Japan retreated by withdrawing its request for a "coastal village" quota for Bryde's whales.
Japan did, however, land one punch during the meeting. The country and its allies were able to defeat, once again, a proposal to create a South Atlantic Sanctuary. The proposal, put forth by Brazil and other conservation-minded governments, needed a three-quarters majority, but garnered only a simple majority of 29 for, 26 against, and two abstentions.
Conservationists countered by rejecting Japan's bid to abolish the decade-old Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Japan and other pro-whaling nations argue that proper management measures would prevent whales stocks from being depleted and would therefore render sanctuaries unnecessary—they say this despite the fact that they oppose any meaningful management regulations. Japan's proposal needed a three-quarters majority to pass, but failed to get even a simple majority.
The Final Blow
Despite all its losses at the 57th meeting, Japan left Ulsan secure in the knowledge that it will still, no matter what anyone said or did at the IWC this year, kill more whales this season. At Ulsan, Japan officially revealed its JARPA 2 plan to significantly expand its scientific whaling program. The plan calls for the country to double its take of minke whales to as many as 935 a year and start looking at killing 50 humpbacks and 50 fin, both of which are endangered.
Japan's JARPA 2 plan was not well-received and inspired some forceful commentary. On Wednesday, IWC members officially passed a resolution condemning Japan's research whaling. Seeing the handwriting on the wall after that vote, Japan withdrew its own proposal seeking to praise the research from its scientific hunts.
In a stinging intervention the government of Brazil suggested Japan had invented a new category of whaling—"political" whaling—and called it an abuse of Japan's rights under the convention. Austria's scientist reminded the body that "63 members of the scientific committee have put in the strongest terms their concerns over JARPA 2." Scientists have also debunked Japan's claims that the country needs to kill whales and see what they have eaten in order to study the impact of whale feeding on commercial fish stocks.
In all, the IWC has now passed more than 30 resolutions condemning Japan's scientific whaling program. While important, these are non-binding resolutions, and Japan has already indicated it will proceed with its hunts regardless.
Angry over the vote on scientific whaling, one Japanese official announced to the delegates that next year Japan would be back with more countries. "The reversal of history is soon to come for Japan," the delegate said.
The 58th annual IWC meeting will be held June 2006 in St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.
Rebecca Regnery is Program Manager for HSI's Oceans and Wildlife Protection section.
