CONSERVATION: Intense Japanese Lobbying Worries Whale Protectors

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

BANGKOK, Oct 11 2004 (IPS) - Sustained Japanese lobbying to get a ban on the hunting of minke whales lifted at a major conservation conference in the Thai capital is worrying activists trying to conserve the endangered species of sea mammal.

”They (Japanese) are lobbying very hard to have the minke whale down listed from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I to Appendix II and there is every chance that they could win out this time,” Gina Sanchez, a whale campaigner for Greenpeace International, told IPS.

Sanchez claimed that the Japanese delegation, one of the largest at the on-going CITES convention being held here, had been systematically lobbying countries including poor Caribbean and African states with offers of development aid in return for favourable votes.

Over 1,500 delegates from 166 member countries are at the 13th Conference of CITES Parties.

CITES, a U.N. treaty that has been in effect for nearly 30 years, subjects international trade of 30,000 species of animals and plants, including 49 tree species, to varying degrees of control through listing in its three Appendices according to the degree of threat and protection required.

Appendix I applies the most stringent controls on species threatened with extinction, Appendix II regulates trade in species that could potentially lead to extinction and Appendix III includes species listed by an ”individual” country in an effort to enlist international cooperation to control trade from their country.

But a CITES member would need a two-thirds majority if it wants its proposal to downgrade a species’ listing to be approved by the conference of parties. The voting is by secret ballot.

Japan’s proposal to be allowed to commercially exploit minke whale stocks is the fourth such attempt at a CITES conference and will be put to vote on Tuesday – the penultimate day of the 12-day conference which ends on Thursday.

The Japanese government has argued on behalf of its whaling industry claiming that stocks of minke whales have ”obviously” increased as a consequence of a 1986 moratorium on commercial hunting by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to which 53 nations are signatory.

It has also argues that stocks of minke whale in the Okhotsk Sea, West Pacific and Northeast Atlantic and Central North Atlantic now exceed 200,000.

But according to Steven Galster, the Bangkok-based director for the conservation group WildAid, Japan and Norway have resorted to what they call ”scientific whaling”. Additionally, Japan enjoys quotas for ‘research’ whaling which yield about 2,500 tonnes of whale meat annually.

Japan would like to see CITES either downlisting the Minke from the most protected Appendix 1 list or else adopt a resolution asking the IWC to hurry up with devising a quota formula for hunting.

Galster accused Japan of trying to use CITES to ”get its foot in the door” and resume industrial whaling with disastrous consequences for the minke whale but said he was confident that the proposal would be rejected once again.

Other conservationist groups that have challenged the Japanese claims include the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) which termed the data presented to CITES as ”misleading”.

An IFAW statement said: ”The claim in the proposal that populations are increasing is not supported by any evidence.”

On Monday Greenpeace activists demonstrated before the Japanese embassy in Bangkok to demand that the government of Japan vote in favour of conservation of the minke whale and other marine species.

”Japan has historically sided with their own industries at this (CITES) conference,” said Tim Birch, a campaigner with Greenpeace International.

”They must realise that if they don’t start saving marine life now, they, and indeed all of us, will soon be faced with empty oceans,” he told IPS.

Activists from various nationalities displayed banners reading, ”Japan: Don’t empty our oceans!” The activists wore ‘Nemo’ fish hats and delivered a letter to the Japanese ambassador highlighting the plight of the world’s oceans and the major role played by his country in their exploitation.

This week governments will vote not only on down listing the minke whale to categories that allow hunting, but also on other threatened prey of fishing fleets such as the great white shark and the humphead wrasse.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) around 75 percent of the world’s fisheries are classified as fully exploited, overexploited, depleted or recovering from depletion.

Recent scientific studies reveal that 90 percent of all large fish have vanished from the world’s oceans in the past 50 years.

”Japan continues to treat the world’s oceans as though there is no tomorrow. They refuse to accept the fact that the seas are suffering from over-exploitation. They must vote to ensure that short-term profit does not continue to empty our oceans,” concluded Birch.