WHALE conservation, rather than whaling, is now the main objective of the International Whaling Commission. This follows a decision by the IWC at its annual meeting in Berlin this week to adopt a controversial proposal that changes its very nature. Ironically, however, the agreement could provoke pro-whaling nations to quit the commission and resume commercial whaling.
By a vote of 25 to 20, with one abstention, member nations agreed to a proposal by anti-whaling nations, dubbed the 鈥淏erlin initiative鈥�. It is designed to change an organisation created in 1946 to regulate the hunting of whales into one committed to their conservation. 鈥淚t would put one body in control of all conservation issues affecting whales and dolphins,鈥� says Vassili Papastavrou, a whale specialist at the Massachusetts-based International Fund for Animal Welfare.
As New 杏吧原创 went to press, it was still unclear how the pro-whaling nations that voted against the proposal would react. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 action has forced Japan to consider all our options,鈥� said Japan鈥檚 representative on the commission, Masayuki Komatsu. Before the meeting, he had warned that they might quit the IWC and form their own organisation to manage whale hunts. The IWC placed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, and whaling nations see the latest initiative as a tactic designed to block its resumption for good.
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Under the Berlin initiative, the IWC would move towards a policy of protecting whales and away from conserving them via sustainable catches. For the first time, the IWC would champion all issues affecting the survival of whales. For example, it would actively seek ways of ending or limiting the deaths of 300,000 whales and dolphins accidentally caught in fishing nets each year. This dwarfs the 1500 or so caught by Japan and Norway as part of their 鈥渟cientific whaling鈥� programmes 鈥� which are legal despite the IWC鈥檚 ban on commercial whaling.
The IWC could also take steps to limit deaths of whales and dolphins through collisions with ships, and investigate options for reducing pollution harmful to the animals. To complete the transformation, the IWC has acquired a mandate to regulate whale watching, a bigger industry than whaling itself.
鈥淭he IWC could concentrate on more important threats to whales, such as entanglements in nets, ship strikes and pollution effects,鈥� says Justin Cooke, who represents the World Conservation Union (IUCN) on the IWC鈥檚 scientific committee. Management of stocks is no longer the biggest issue, he says. The IWC may also take steps to safeguard small cetaceans as well as the dozen great whales it now protects.
The decision in Berlin will delay implementation of what is called the Revised Management Scheme, a contentious framework for restarting commercial whaling that has been under consideration by the IWC for a decade. Norway, Iceland and Japan want to resume hunting under the scheme.
Some major conservation organisations backing the initiative say that limited commercial whaling is still an option. 鈥淭he IUCN is not opposed to managed exploitation, provided it is sustainable,鈥� says Cooke. But implementing a limited commercial hunt would be difficult. Conservationists say the IWC must first maintain a register of the DNA of every whale caught. Only then will it be possible to authenticate legal whalemeat. Whalers want their own DNA databases to be used instead. They also oppose demands for observers to be present on whaling vessels, and for each piece of whalemeat to carry a certificate of authenticity. But conservationists say whalers cannot be trusted unless these measures are introduced.