In its desire to swiftly secure a subsistence bowhead quota for two aboriginal communities—a proposal originally denied at the International Whaling Commission meeting in May—the United States set the stage on October 14 for an ambush maneuver that allowed Iceland to rejoin the IWC with a reservation to the moratorium on commercial whaling.

Unless overturned, Iceland's readmission could set a poor precedent for international treaties and lead to a resumption of commercial whaling.

"This incident violates international law and sets a dangerous legal precedent. If a country changes its mind after initially agreeing with a legally binding decision of an international treaty or convention, that country may simply quit and rejoin the convention with a formal objection exempting it from the rules it does not wish to abide by," says Kitty Block, United Nations and treaties special counsel for The HSUS.

"This renders the entire notion of international agreements a farce—potentially undermining all existing accords and making the negotiations of future agreements increasingly difficult," Block adds.

The chain of events that led to Iceland's readmission began in Shimonoseki, Japan, where the 54th annual meeting of the IWC was held in May. Governments around the world were stunned when Japan and its allies blocked, out of spite, a subsistence bowhead whaling quota for Russian and Alaskan aboriginal communities after Japan lost a request for a coastal whaling quota. The international outcry was so great that Japan quickly promised to reverse its stance, and the United States called for another vote at a special IWC intercessional meeting on October 14, in Cambridge, U.K.

The special meeting was called only to address the subsistence bowhead quota. But then two last-minute items were added to the agenda: Japan's coastal whaling proposal and Iceland's readmission to the IWC with a reservation to the commercial whaling moratorium, both of which had already been denied at the May meeting.

Iceland had been trying to rejoin the IWC for the last two years, but had not previously mustered enough votes because most countries felt a readmission would undermine the treaty. Iceland had originally agreed to the global ban on commercial whaling when it was enacted in 1982, and was therefore bound by the moratorium, but then withdrew from the convention in 1992 when it was clear commercial whaling was unlikely to be allowed.

The surprise readmission item at the special meeting was apparently carefully calculated to favor Iceland. Not only did Iceland have Japan and other pro-whaling nations on its side in Cambridge, but some pro-conservation countries, who would have voted against readmission, were unable to attend or were unable to pay their dues in time to vote.

After hours of political maneuvering, including allowances to let Iceland vote even before rejoining the IWC, it was apparent the country had enough votes to gain readmission. So anti-whaling nations begrudgingly allowed Iceland in by consensus.

"Iceland was able to get the votes this time thanks to the efforts of the Japanese, their pro-whaling allies, including Iceland itself, and their puppets—those countries that receive financial aid from Japan in exchange for their votes," says Block.

Iceland is now a member of the IWC with a vote, and it will be able to legally hunt whales. Icelandic officials say they will not resume commercial whaling until 2006—unless the IWC gives the country a whaling quota or government officials feel the IWC is not making sufficient progress on the proposed Revised Management Scheme (RMS), a management framework that must be adopted before the commission will allow the resumption of commercial whaling.

As a result, Iceland will legally be able to hunt whales commercially in 2006 even if the RMS has not been completed, and before then if it feels that sufficient progress is not being made, the determination of which is left completely up to Iceland's whims. Worse still, Iceland can immediately begin to hunt whales for "scientific research" by exploiting a loophole in the treaty, as Japan has been doing for years.

Bowhead Quota

At the special meeting, the governments of the United States and the Russian Federation were able to overturn the previous vote and pass the subsistence bowhead whaling quota for aboriginal communities near the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort seas. The quota was approved by consensus, with Japan still formally objecting but not blocking the consensus.

Following the subsistence bowhead quota vote, Japan proposed a resolution promoting its coastal whaling quota. It failed to pass, but only by a slim margin. The United States, after apparently making a quid-pro-quo deal with Japan, voted in favor of the coastal whaling proposal, in return for Japan's not blocking the subsistence quota. If Japan's bid had passed, it would have helped to create a new category of whaling under the IWC—coastal whaling would be allowed in addition to aboriginal subsistence whaling and whaling under the guise of "scientific research."

"The actions of the U.S. deeply concerned and angered conservation-minded countries that work diligently and consistently to protect the whales and that have always counted on support from the U.S. in the past," says Block. "The developing countries that attended this special meeting to support the bowhead subsistence quota request also felt betrayed by the U.S."