Controversial moves to relax the international ban on commercial whaling collapsed yesterday, raising fears among some environmentalists that nations such as Japan will increase their annual catch as a result.
The proposal, to allow a limited commercial hunt by Japan, Iceland and Norway for 10 years, had divided lobbyists on both sides of the argument, and promised to force a breakthrough in a debate which has been deadlocked for almost a quarter of a century. But negotiations at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Morocco, broke down and appear likely to be put off for a whole year.
At the centre of the whaling conflict is the moratorium on commercial whaling introduced by the IWC in 1986 after evidence that the world’s largest mammals were being driven to extinction. Every year Japan has sought to overturn the moratorium; every year it has failed to achieve the required three-quarters majority.
Last year Japan set a quota of 900 minke for what it describes as a “scientific” hunt, supposedly necessary to monitor the health of whale populations. Environmentalists claim that this is a crude excuse for keeping commercial whaling alive – and almost all of the whale meat garnered in these culls is offered as food on the commercial market.
The new proposal would have allowed Japan to hunt 120 minke whales in its coastal waters, as well as 400 more in the Antarctic, declining to 200 after five years. But both supporters and opponents of whaling found it difficult to agree even among themselves how the move would affect their interests.
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One of the most powerful voices in the anti-whaling camp, the environmental group, Greenpeace, opposes any legalisation of whaling. “Commercial whaling has always led to the overexploitation of whale populations, and has driven many species to the very brink of extinction,” the group said. “We think that any progressive deal … must respect the ban on commercial whaling.”
Australia’s environment minister, Peter Garrett, said yesterday: “I am very pleased that this morning it’s now clear and confirmed that the commission won’t be ... opening up the prospect of commercial whaling in the future.”
But other environmentalists support the move on the grounds that it may bring about a net decrease in the number of whales killed. “These talks are finished,” said Sue Lieberman of the Pew Environment Group. “There is now a risk that there could be an increase in whaling by Japan.”
The negotiations, in the Moroccan city of Agadir, faced several obstacles, including Japanese reluctance to accept a phasing out of the whale hunt in the Antarctic Southern Ocean, where for years Japanese ships have jousted with environmentalists. Iceland and Norway, the other two whaling nations, restrict their whaling to their own economic waters. Iceland also objected to a ban on the international trade in whale meat products.