According to a Greenpeace release, after three days of meetings in Tokyo, the pro-whaling members of the International Whaling Commission have concluded that the best plan to move forward is to keep hunting more whales.
The Japanese government yesterday presented a new proposal for what they claim is “small scale” coastal whaling, but rather than continue to call it science, it is now being referred to as “community whaling”. However, the plan remains unaltered – to catch 220 whales, despite having virtually no market, no scientific justification, and no community benefit.
“This is a clear sign that ‘normalisation of the IWC’ simply means continuing with the current situation – catch as many whales as possible,” said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan whale campaigner. “No new ideas have come from this meeting. The only concrete proposals are to have secret ballots at the IWC, to hold closed meetings, to exclude NGO’s where possible, and to keep catching the same number of whales.”
Greenpeace says that it is clear the IWC needs to be modernised – to increase transparency, and to explore ways to protect whales for the future. The onus now clearly rests on the governments from other countries to seize the initiative, and make the IWC a body that works for the whales and not for the whalers.
