LAST week, pro and anti-whaling nations went head to head in Japan to decide the future of the world鈥檚 whales. As usual, both sides walked away from the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission having gained nothing but a renewed sense of antipathy towards each other.
This time, however, the realpolitik could have a little-noticed but potentially disastrous consequence. The very future of the IWC and the world鈥檚 whales may finally be undone not by disagreements over large-scale commercial hunting or ocean-wide sanctuaries, but by whether aboriginal groups around the world should be allowed to catch a few dozen whales to feed their families.
Predictably, anti-whaling nations failed for the third consecutive year in their bid to establish sanctuaries in the South Pacific and South Atlantic. In turn, the pro-whalers led by Japan were denied any concessions that may lead to the eventual resumption of commercial whaling. The IWC also rejected Iceland鈥檚 bid to rejoin the organisation while it reserved the right to a commercial hunt. Iceland threw a tantrum and walked out of the meeting, claiming the vote was illegal.
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But one decision broke the status quo. The US and Russia jointly applied to renew permits allowing the Alaskan Inuit and Chukotka people of Russia to kill 280 endangered bowhead whales over five years. For the first time, the pro-whaling nations led by Japan forced the IWC to reject the application.
That could be the thread that finally pulls the IWC apart. Subsistence hunting of whales is enshrined in US law鈥攊t has a treaty with the Inuit people in Alaska allowing them to whale. Existing permits cover this summer鈥檚 hunt, but the US faces an unwelcome prospect if it fails to secure whaling rights at next year鈥檚 IWC meeting: it will have to decide whether to break that treaty or defy the IWC.
In the past, the US has used the threat of trade sanctions to prevent Japan resuming limited commercial whaling, which was banned by the IWC in 1986. 鈥淓very year the US votes against Japan鈥檚 small-type coastal whalers鈥� request for a relief quota of 50 minke whales from the abundant western North Pacific stock,鈥� says Japanese IWC commissioner Masayuki Komatsu. He says Japan could not tolerate the 鈥渉ypocrisy鈥� any further. But if the US contravenes the new IWC ruling, it will set a precedent that Japan may feel politically able to follow, say conservationists.
The US reacted with fury to the vote. 鈥淚n the history of the IWC, it was the most unjust, unkind and unfair vote ever taken,鈥� said Rolland Schmitten, the US鈥檚 IWC commissioner. The vote literally denied people the opportunity to feed their families, he said. Russia was also upset by the rejection, especially as it is traditionally a pro-whaling ally of Japan.
Greenpeace claims that the US-Russian defeat was only possible because Japan bought the votes of developing countries in return for aid. But Rune Fr酶vik of Norwegian pro-whaling organisation the High North Alliance told 快猫短视频: 鈥淭urning down the US bowhead quota shows the pro-sustainable-whaling forces are getting their acts together and showing muscles. They are saying enough is enough.鈥�