WASHINGTON - In anticipation of the pro-whaling nations' capture of the simple majority of the International Whaling Commission during tomorrow's opening session of the body's 58th annual meeting in St. Kitts, The Humane Society of the United States and its affiliate Humane Society International expressed serious concerns that the great whales, already under extreme pressure worldwide, will be facing the fight of their lives if the pro-whaling countries get their way.
Whatever the arguments of economic benefit being advanced by whaling countries -- Japan, Norway, Iceland -- and the non-whaling countries that support them, there is no need for commercial whaling in today's world. No humane methods exist to hunt whales, and it is impossible to justify such crude and indifferent reliance on the exploding harpoon and other instruments that inflict massive pain before death.
Furthermore, a great many citizens of pro-whaling countries do not have a desire to consume whale meat, despite the marketing efforts of countries such as Japan to create a demand within their population.
The blame for today's situation, however, does not rest alone with the pro-whaling nations. The United States and other conservation countries have waited too long to act with any sense of urgency as Japan brazenly thumbs its nose at the international community and continues whaling under the guise of "science," while cobbling together its passel of pro-whaling allies using diplomatic influence and foreign aid packages to do so.
Americans need to demand their government do more to overcome Japan's aggressive strategy of undermining the international consensus against whaling.
The IWC was created by whaling countries in 1946 in response to the alarming whale population decline due to large scale commercial whaling activities. Over the course of the next several decades, whalers routinely exceeded their permissible take and inaccurately reported the numbers of whales killed. By the 1970s, eight out of ten species of great whales covered by the IWC treaty were commercially extinct.
Responding to worldwide demand for marine mammal protection, the IWC adopted the 1982 ban. Since then, Japan, Iceland, and Norway have been working to lift the ban while continuing to kill whales by taking advantage of special exemptions.
