Japan pushes to scrap commercial whaling ban

Japan pushed Tuesday to lift a 24-year-old ban on commercial whaling, setting up a clash at talks in Florida with implacable foes opposed to its pursuit of the giant mammals.Tokyo's position against the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium risked new tensions with environmental campaigners and Australia, which has slapped Japan with a legal ultimatum unless it stops whaling."To gain the right to resume commercial whaling, what and how much can we give?" Japanese fisheries minister Hirotaka Akamatsu told reporters ahead of the closed-door talks among lower-level IWC negotiators in Florida."We will continue our patient negotiations," he said, after last month hinting at a compromise that would see Japan scale back its troubled annual whale hunt in Antarctica if it can whale commercially in its own waters.At the weekend, militant anti-whalers heading back to Australia declared an end to this season's pursuit of Japanese harpoon ships in Antarctic waters after a series of dramatic clashes on the high seas.Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society fleet, estimated that they had reduced the Japanese kill by up to half, costing the whalers between 70 and 80 million US dollars.He said Sea Shepherd's harassment techniques, which included the use of rancid butter-bombs, acoustic weapons, water cannon and a futuristic powerboat, had managed to block harpooning entirely for more than a month.In 1986, the IWC slapped a moratorium on commercial whaling, but Japan uses a loophole that allows lethal "scientific research" for its annual Antarctic hunts, while Norway and Iceland defy the ban entirely.The three nations have since killed more than 30,000 whales.The Florida talks come ahead of the annual IWC meeting in June, when nations will discuss a compromise proposal by the commission's chair to give the green light to whaling but with the goal of gradually reducing the total catch."In the end, I will go to the IWC meeting (in June) and voice Japan's position and make sure it will bear fruit," Akamatsu told reporters.Japan makes no secret of the fact that the meat of whales it kills is sold in restaurants and shops, and maintains that whaling is a centuries-old tradition for the island-nation.But Australia's government says it will haul Japan in front of the International Court of Justice this year unless it forswears whaling.Japan has called the ultimatum "extremely regrettable", and Akamatsu stood firm as negotiators from key nations were to meet through Friday in a resort town on Florida's Gulf coast.The compromise would bring the whaling of Japan, Norway and Iceland under IWC control, requiring that DNA samples be handed over for any "research" whaling, and aim to "significantly" reduce the catch over 10 years.Cristian Maquieira, chairman of the 88-nation IWC, said the rancorous status quo "should not be regarded as an option" despite the angry reaction of Australia and New Zealand to Japan's efforts to dilute the ban.While not addressing the Antarctic, the IWC compromise would set up a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, where key players such as South Africa and Brazil oppose whaling.Environmental groups have been scathing over the proposal, with Greenpeace arguing that it effectively undoes the landmark 1986 moratorium credited with restoring stocks of the ocean giants. "This would take us right back to the 20th century of commercial whaling," said Phil Kline, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace USA. "And after a 10-year period of doing this, there is absolutely nothing beyond that, so it just opens up the floodgates again," Kline said.

Japan wants deal to scale down 'scientific' whaling

Japan will propose scaling down its troubled annual whale hunt in Antarctica on condition it is allowed to whale commercially in its own coastal waters, a fisheries official said Wednesday.

Tokyo will present its proposal to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at its annual meeting in Morocco in June, the official said, even though a similar plan was rejected by the 85-nation body last year.

"We have been studying ways to reach a packaged agreement and to normalise the IWC activities," said the Fisheries Agency official, who declined to provide specific details of Tokyo's proposal. "The efforts continue today."

Japanese whalers kill hundreds of the mammals a year in Antarctic waters, where their fleet has repeatedly clashed in recent months with militant environmental activists of the Sea Shepherd society.

Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide since 1986, but Japan justifies its hunts as scientific research, while not hiding the fact that the whale meat is later sold in shops and restaurants.

The Sea Shepherds said they exchanged water cannon blasts with Japanese fishermen Monday and accused the whalers of ramming their vessel, the Bob Barker, two days earlier, leaving a metre (three-foot) long gash in its stern.

Last month, the group's futuristic powerboat Ady Gil was sliced in two and sank after a collision with one of the Japanese ships, leading both Australia and New Zealand to call for restraint on all sides.

At last year's IWC talks, anti-whaling countries rejected Japan's offer to scale down its south Pacific culls if it is allowed to commercially hunt 150 minke whales a year in its coastal waters.

Agriculture Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu this month said he would like to submit the proposal personally at the IWC, and that Japanese officials were already in talks with other nations on reaching a compromise.

"If possible, I myself would go to an IWC meeting and propose and demand approval for the commercial catching of minke whales along Japanese coasts," he said last week, saying Japan was ready for some compromises.

The IWC was set up in 1946 by 15 whale-hunting nations to manage a whale population threatened by the fishing industry. The body now has 85 members and has taken an increasingly conservationist approach.

In 1986, it instituted a ban on commercial whaling that still stands today.

The body has been deadlocked in recent years by divisions between countries such as Japan that say the dangers of whaling are exaggerated and other nations like Australia which want the whaling ban to be kept in place.

Whale chief mulls ending hunt ban

A clause in the convention means countries can hunt whales for research The outgoing chair of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has suggested whale conservation could benefit from ending the commercial hunting ban.Dr William Hogarth's remarks came at the end of this year's IWC meeting, which saw pro- and anti-whaling nations agree to further compromise talks. A Greenpeace spokesman said the moratorium had to stay intact. The meeting deferred a decision on a controversial bid from Greenland to add humpback whales to its annual hunt. The Greenland Inuit are one of the indigenous peoples granted hunting quotas because they are deemed to need whalemeat.I am probably convinced right now that there would be less whales killed if we didn't have the commercial moratorium Dr William Hogarth, IWC chairman The meeting wrapped up a day ahead of schedule, although a small group of delegates convenes on Friday to start planning a second year of talks about a possible compromise deal between the various blocs. The first year's discussions were supposed to reach a deal by this meeting, but the deadline proved too tight. Sustainable yieldsThe 1982 commercial whaling moratorium is one of the conservation movement's iconic achievements, and environment groups and anti-whaling nations are, at least on the surface, lined up four-square behind it. But Dr Hogarth, a US fisheries expert who led the compromise talks for the last year, suggested it could now be a problem for whale conservation. "I'll probably get in trouble for making this statement, but I am probably convinced right now that there would be less whales killed if we didn't have the commercial moratorium," he told BBC News immediately after the meeting ended.Guide to the great whales His argument is that Japan's hunts, conducted under a clause in the whaling convention that gives any country the right to hunt as many whales as it wants for scientific research, are essentially unregulated. Currently Japan catches more than 1,000 whales each year; and Dr Hogarth believes use of the scientific whaling clause encourages large hunts in order to get enough samples to draw scientifically valid conclusions. "I'm not sure you'd need nearly so many whales if it were strictly for sustainable use," he said. The key, he suggested, was to find a way of allowing limited, tightly regulated small-scale whaling for local consumption, while outlawing large-scale, heavily commercial hunts and keeping international trade under control. No returnThe Japanese delegation has kept a low media profile during this meeting, but it is likely that Dr Hogarth's words will be well received in Tokyo as it seeks to win international agreement for introducing "small-type coastal whaling" as part of a compromise deal. How it goes down with environmental groups is another matter. Greenpeace oceans campaigner John Frizzell, a long-time opponent of whaling, said the moratorium had to stay.If there's one common element involved here, it's that everybody believes the status quo is no longer acceptable Cristian Maquieiraincoming IWC chairmanWhaling: It's the politics, stupid! "Lifting the commercial moratorium would be an extremely bad idea," he said. "Before the moratorium, under the IWC's guidance and supervision, populations were driven down to commercial extinction one after the other and heavily depleted. "The moratorium is the only management procedure that has even halfway worked, and to talk about scrapping it is going back to the old days." Privately, some anti-whaling campaigners may be prepared to countenance a partial end to the moratorium, with strict regulations placed on catch quotas, trade and monitoring, in return for bringing scientific whaling under the IWC's control. Sue Lieberman, head of the global species programme at WWF International, said that although Japan was not currently offering to end scientific whaling within a timeframe of a few years, progress was possible in the longer term. "I don't think anyone should expect Japan to come forward and say 'you're right, we've been wrong all these years, we give up'," she said. "But I think it's important to sit down with Japan and talk about it. "It is time to give it up. Economically it makes no sense, it's not necessary for food security, it's time to leave the Southern Ocean [whale] sanctuary as a sanctuary - and I hope politically Japan will understand that." Local needsThe meeting's other potentially contentious issue - Greenland's request to add 10 humpback whales per year to the minkes, bowheads and fin whales that the Inuit already catch - was left open after EU nations could not agree a position among themselves.THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: NorwayScientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this. Example: JapanAboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat EU policy is to vote as a bloc in all international environmental agreements. But here there was an unbridgeable split between those such as the UK who found the detail of Greenland's proposal unacceptable and others who favoured approval. With the EU commanding so many votes in the IWC as to hold the balance of power, the option of deferring a decision, awaiting research into how much meat Greenlanders obtain from whales, poured diplomatic oil on troubled waters. But it did not find favour with Amalie Jessen, Greenland's deputy minister for fisheries, hunting and agriculture. "I don't think EU countries understand the needs of traditional hunters," she said. "I have observed very little tolerance and very little understanding of our situation, and they are always coming up with new requests and questions and conditions." Greenland's request was turned down at the last two IWC meetings, and the government cites the issue as a reason for wanting to move its whaling outside the commission's remit. Southern climesAway from these main issues, environmental groups were pleased to see the passage of a resolution noting that climate change will affect cetaceans, and appealing to IWC members to "take urgent action to reduce the rate and extent of climate change". Environmental lawyers said this could be a precedent for regional fisheries management organisations, which normally shy away from discussion of climate issues.Pecking hors d'oeuvre: Gull attack There was also appreciation for Australia's initiation of a new research partnership in the Southern Ocean that will use exclusively non-lethal methods. Although comment on Japan's research in the same region tends to focus on the lethal aspects, its fleet also carries an international team of scientists that documents whale numbers by sightings and other techniques. A long-time contention of some observers has been that if countries such as Australia want Japan to stop its expeditions, they have to start funding an alternative research operation - and now that message appears to have been heard. With Dr Hogarth's departure, the job of steering next year's negotiations between Japan and anti-whaling countries such as Australia falls to incoming chairman Cristian Maquieira, who said that on a scale of difficulty from one to 10, this was "about a 12". "Speaking candidly, it's an organisation that has no carrots and no sticks," he said. But the Chilean diplomat was optimistic about the negotiations "I feel if there's one common element involved here, it's that everybody believes the status quo is no longer acceptable," he said. By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News, Madeira

'Bycatch' Whaling A Growing Threat To Coastal Whales

Scientists are warning that a new form of unregulated whaling has emerged along the coastlines of Japan and South Korea, where the commercial sale of whales killed as fisheries "bycatch" is threatening coastal stocks of minke whales and other protected species.Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, says DNA analysis of whale-meat products sold in Japanese markets suggests that the number of whales actually killed through this "bycatch whaling" may be equal to that killed through Japan's scientific whaling program – about 150 annually from each source.Baker, a cetacean expert, and Vimoksalehi Lukoscheck of the University of California-Irvine presented their findings at the recent scientific meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Portugal. Their study found that nearly 46 percent of the minke whale products they examined in Japanese markets originated from a coastal population, which has distinct genetic characteristics, and is protected by international agreements. Their conclusion: As many as 150 whales came from the coastal population through commercial bycatch whaling, and another 150 were taken from an open ocean population through Japan's scientific whaling. In some past years, Japan only reported about 19 minke whales killed through bycatch, though that number has increased recently as new regulations governing commercial bycatch have been adopted, Baker said.Japan is now seeking IWC agreement to initiate a small coastal whaling program, a proposal which Baker says should be scrutinized carefully because of the uncertainty of the actual catch and the need to determine appropriate population counts to sustain the distinct stocks.Whales are occasionally killed in entanglements with fishing nets and the deaths of large whales are reported by most member nations of the IWC. Japan and South Korea are the only countries that allow the commercial sale of products killed as "incidental bycatch." The sheer number of whales represented by whale-meat products on the market suggests that both countries have an inordinate amount of bycatch, Baker said."The sale of bycatch alone supports a lucrative trade in whale meat at markets in some Korean coastal cities, where the wholesale price of an adult minke whale can reach as high as $100,000," Baker said. "Given these financial incentives, you have to wonder how many of these whales are, in fact, killed intentionally."In Japan, whale-meat products enter into the commercial supply chain that supports the nationwide distribution of whale and dolphin products for human consumption, including products from scientific whaling. However, Baker and his colleagues have developed genetic methods for identifying the species of whale-meat products and determining how many individual whales may actually have been killed.Baker said bycatch whaling also serves as a cover for illegal hunting, but the level at which it occurs is unknown. In January 2008, Korean police launched an investigation into organized illegal whaling in the port town of Ulsan, he said, reportedly seizing 50 tons of minke whale meat.Other protected species of large whales detected in market surveys include humpbacks whales, fin whales, Bryde's whales and critically endangered western gray whales. The entanglement and death of western or Asian gray whales is of particular concern given the extremely small size of this endangered populations, which is estimated at only 100 individuals.It will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Animal Conservation.Oregon State University

Denmark asks to resume humpback whale hunt

Denmark on Tuesday officially requested permission to resume hunting humpback whales off Greenland, in a move that has angered environmentalists.Ole Samsing, Danish commissioner at the annual International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference being held on the Portuguese island of Madeira, made the call and demanded a "quick solution"."We want to put forward a proposal for a quota of 10 humpback whales per year for the 2010-2012 period" in Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, Samsing said."We want a quick solution for this proposal," he added.Samsing said the hunting of humpbacks would be carried out under so-called "aboriginal" or subsistence hunting to support local communities.To compensate for resuming the humpback hunt, Samsing proposed reducing the quota of minke whales from 200 to 178.Commercial hunting of humpbacks has been banned since a moratorium in 1966.Greenland continued to legally capture the large marine mammals until 1987, when the ban was extended to "aboriginal" or subsistence hunting.The Danish plans drew criticism from environmental campaigners, who say Greenland does not need a quota increase."Overall since 1991, Greenland has taken only 77 percent of its whole available quota," the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) said in a statement urging the IWC to refuse the request."The IWC scientific committee has already made it clear that the humpback population can withstand 10 being captured a year," Portuguese commissioner Jorge Palmeirim, head of the sub-commission for subsistence whaling, told AFP earlier Tuesday."But the question is one of need, and it is not clear that they need to increase their quota," Palmeirim added.

Inuit whalers want Ottawa to reopen the minke whale hunt

Inuit whalers in northern Quebec are pushing Ottawa to reopen the minke whale hunt, a subsistence harvest they say will make up for tightening quotas on their preferred catch - beluga. The president of the hunters' association in Nunavik said the flesh of the swift-swimming minke was a key part of the local diet until the federal government abolished the hunt in 1972. "We're trying to revive our traditional culture," Paulusie Novalinga said from his home in the Hudson Bay community of Puvirnituq. "We're hunters, we live off the land - we're part of the land." Nunavik's marine wildlife board will submit the request to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said Stas Olpinski, a scientific adviser to Makivik Corp., the body that oversees political, social and economic development in the region. "There's an interest, certainly, in the meat," Olpinski said. "There's also an interest, vis-a-vis the hunt, because of reduced numbers of beluga whales that are available to Inuit in Nunavik." For years, Nunavik whalers have disputed beluga quotas set by the federal Fisheries Department, which has indicated the white whale's numbers are in decline. DFO reduced catch limits for northern Quebec from 360 beluga in 2001 to 165 in 2006. Last year's quota for Nunavik was 174. But the Inuit say the icy waters off their shores are full of beluga, which provide oil as well as a rubbery, dinner-table delicacy for locals. Because most of the Inuit diet comes from hunting, trapping and fishing, the hunts should not be limited, Novalinga said. "We don't enjoy killing wildlife, but we need to," said Novalinga, whose organization represents 5,000 hunters. "That's our food." He said minke flesh, which he once sampled during a trip to Greenland, is a delicious alternative. "It's very good meat - rich, nutritious, full of iron," he said, adding that minkes are abundant in Nunavik waters. The whales, which can grow to nine metres in length and weigh up to 14 tons, are among the world's smallest baleen whales. A 2008 global stock assessment by the International Conservation Union's Red List of Endangered Species categorized the common minke whale as a species of "least concern." Stefan Romberg, a resource management officer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said minkes are currently harvested in Norway, Iceland, Japan and Greenland. In Canada, only subsistence hunts for narwhal, bowhead and beluga are permitted. "If DFO receives a formal request, it will be reviewed and a decision will be made with respect to a licence," Romberg wrote in an email. Still, some northern Quebecers remain skeptical of opening a harvest they're not familiar with. Johnny Oovaut, mayor of the seaside village of Quaqtaq and an elected member of Nunavik's regional government, said minkes were never hunted in his community. "We've always been wary of strange foods," said Oovaut, whose town is on the coast of the Hudson Strait. Instead, he wants Ottawa to loosen restrictions on beluga and leave management of the mammal up to the Inuit - the way it was for thousands of years. "Personally, I think they should mind their own business," Oovaut said of the federal Fisheries Department. "We have our own set of rules."

Whaling peace talks 'fall short'

Japan wants the IWC to permit whaling in some coastal communities Moves to make a peace deal between pro and anti-whaling nations have stalled, with no chance of agreement this year. Countries have been talking for nearly a year in an attempt to hammer out an accord by this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. But a draft report seen by BBC News admits the process has "fallen short". A source close to the talks blamed Japan, saying it had not offered big enough cuts in its Antarctic hunt, conducted in the name of research. Earlier meetings had raised the possibility that Japan might countenance annual reductions in its catch over the next five years, perhaps down to zero. However, the source said that at a meeting held last month in San Francisco, Japan had offered to cut the haul to 650 minke whales per year, only 29 fewer than were caught last season. This, the source said, "killed any prospect of agreement in Madeira" - the location for this year's IWC meeting, which takes place next month. In return for downscaling its annual scientific hunt, Japan has been seeking a small annual quota for four coastal communities which, it says, have whaling as an important part of their cultural background.It should not come as a surprise that it has thus far not been possible to secure agreement Report seen by the BBC on IWC working group 'peace talks' This has drawn the ire of many environment groups, which say it would effectively contravene the 1982 global moratorium on commercial whaling. The working group that has been discussing the proposed deal will ask the IWC's scientific committee to investigate how quotas for such "small-type coastal whaling" might be regulated. Japan is seeking a quota of 150 minke whales per year. 'Right spirit' Informal discussions on the "peace process" started two years ago, and the formal process was instigated at last year's IWC meeting in Santiago. THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING Under the global moratorium on commercial whaling, hunting is conducted in three ways:Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: NorwayScientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this. Example: JapanAboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat Led by the US chairman, William Hogarth, the IWC established a small working group of countries to pursue discussions over the year. The idea was to find a "package" of reforms that all sides could live with. Its report is due for publication on 18 May. The draft seen by BBC News says that given the complexities and the sensitivities, "it should not come as a surprise that it has thus far not been possible to secure agreement" on the key issues - scientific hunting, small-type coastal whaling and whale sanctuaries. But, it says, "significant concrete results" have emerged from the process, citing "the greatly improved atmosphere and the spirit of respectful dialogue". 'Nothing special' Conservation groups have been divided on the merits of the process. Some are opposed to any deal that would allow commercial hunting, on however limited a scale.Iceland and Norway recently began exporting whale meat for sale in Japan They are also concerned that other countries may seek to engage in small-type coastal whaling if the category were established. A South Korean newspaper recently reported that the Seoul government would pursue such a request. Other conservation groups have backed the process as something that could reduce the overall annual catch - now numbering about 2,000 - of species under the IWC's jurisdiction. The working group's report suggests the process should continue for a further year, a notion that appears to command support in Washington and Tokyo. Last month, a meeting of 32 IWC member nations from the "pro-sustainable use" bloc, held in Tokyo, agreed that the peace process should have their backing But, they declared, whales should not be placed in a special category of animals exempt from "sustainable use". They welcomed the recent trading of whale meat between Iceland, Norway and Japan, and rejected the creation of whale sanctuaries - all of which place them at odds with the aims of anti-whaling countries. The BBC's source suggested these nations might feel the peace process was not worthwhile, if Japan was not going to offer larger reductions in the annual Antarctic catch. For an agreement to happen, the source suggested, "another level of the Japanese government" would have to be involved, rather than the Fisheries Agency which, critics say, benefits politically from the current situation. The Japanese government is likely to give its formal reaction after the report's publication. http://mail.niot.res.in/cgi-bin/openwebmail/openwebmail-send.pl?sessionid=prince*mail.niot.res.in-session-0.656993839934518&folder=INBOX&page=3&sort=date&keyword=&searchtype=subject&action=composemessage&message_id=%3Cgu8vtj%2B68re%40eGroups.com%3E&compose_caller=read&to=Richard.Black-INTERNET%40bbc.co.uk

Plan would allow commercial whaling around Japan

The International Whaling Commission may ease its ban on commercial whaling to allow Japan to hunt whales off its coast in return for killing fewer whales in the Antarctic, officials said Tuesday.Officials and whalers in the only three countries with whaling industries quickly praised what one commissioner saw as a step toward normalized commercial whaling — a sensitive issue for conservation groups, some of which have tried to disrupt Japan's whaling fleet.Paul Watson, captain of the ship operated by the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, opposed the deal."It's sort of like saying to bank robbers that you can't rob a bank in the city, but we'll let you do it in the country," he told The Associated Press by satellite phone from the Antarctic Ocean.Japan would be allowed to conduct commercial whaling in local waters in exchange for reducing the number of whales it kills in the Antarctic for scientific research — up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this season.The proposal, first reported in The Washington Post on Sunday, did not specify how many whales Japan would be allowed to kill.Under current IWC rules, whales may be killed for research but not for commercial purposes. Opponents say the Japanese research expeditions are a cover for commercial whaling, since the whale meat is sold on the market.The chairman of the IWC, William Hogarth, told the AP that the U.S. feels the ban on commercial whaling should stay in place. But he said the number of killed whales has been increasing, and the plan is an attempt to reduce the kill."There are a heck of a lot of hard, tough decisions to be made," he said. "In the end, it's gotta be better for the whales than it is now."The plan will be distributed to IWC member countries Feb. 2, Hogarth said. The IWC's next annual meeting is in June.Japan has wanted to hunt whales in local waters for years and says its whaling is solely for scientific research. As the world's most active whale hunter, it has been the focus of international protests.Japanese fisheries agency official Hiromi Isa said his country hopes to resolve the deadlock that has existed since the IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986.The other two whaling countries are Norway and Iceland, which chose not to abide by the ban as allowed by IWC rules.Norwegian Whaling Commissioner Karsten Klepsvik said the country welcomes steps to normalize commercial whaling. Norwegians have complained that the IWC is more interested in preventing whale hunts than managing whales."We have not been part of these negotiations," Klepsvik told the AP. "If Japan can come to a compromise, we would not be against it."Kristjan Loftsson, managing director of Icelandic whaling company Hvalur said any agreement on allowing Japan to resume commercial hunting would be welcome."If this is agreed this will be a step forward, because the IWC was set up to manage whaling stocks — not to set down quotas," he said.Any change to the IWC ban on commercial whaling would require the support of 63 countries — 75 percent of the 84 member nations. But any country can object to a change to avoid being bound by it. Australia responded to the plan Tuesday by ruling out ever supporting commercial whaling. New Zealand said it wanted to see the final details of the plan. "I think it's a healthy thing that nations are trying to work creatively to find a way out of the deadlock that exists," New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said. Tim Stephens, a Sydney University expert in international law as it relates to whales, said both sides stood to win politically from the plan. He said it promises Tokyo a face-saving way to abandon the expensive annual voyage to Antarctic waters and international recognition of commercial whaling in Japanese waters. Stephens is part of an Australian panel of experts that argues that Japan's scientific whaling contravenes international law. To whaling opponents such as Australia, the plan offers a way of securing the Antarctic sanctuary declared by the IWC in 1994 in which whales are truly protected, he said. The whales that Australians see frolicking off their coasts during annual migrations are all from Antarctica. The only losers would be the whales themselves, Stephens said. "If the deal is as suggested, it would certainly be a win for Antarctic whales, but not necessarily a win for whales in general."

Five U.S. Indian men indicted for hunting whale

A federal grand jury indicted five Washington state American Indian men on Thursday on three misdemeanor charges each for their involvement in an illegal hunt of a gray whale last month. The five members of the Makah tribe, frustrated over lack of progress gaining federal approval to resume a tribal whale hunt, shot a 30-foot (9.1-metre) whale at least 16 times with a high-powered rifle before it died.The Makah, a tribe of about 1,200 members in western Washington, has been waiting since 1999 to resume its gray whale hunt after a federal court ruled that the tribe needs to secure a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.Each misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine."We sought out the harshest penalties we could find for the conduct. We believe this is egregious conduct," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Oesterle said in a news conference in Seattle.According to the indictment, the group entered into a conspiracy to illegally hunt and kill a gray whale. The men are also charged with the unlawful taking of a marine mammal and unauthorized whaling.The five men are also expected to face charges from their own tribe, who denounced the hunt and promised to prosecute the hunters to the fullest extent of the law.One of the men charged in hunt, Wayne Johnson, a Makah whaling captain who was involved in the tribe's legal hunt in 1999, told the Seattle Times last month that he was not sorry and that he should have done this years ago.The Makah is waiting on an environmental impact study from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A NOAA official said the illegal hunt could delay progress of the study.The Makah argue that they secured the right to hunt whales and seals in an 1855 treaty with the U.S. government when it reduced the size of its traditional lands.At this year's International Whaling Commission meeting in Anchorage, the Makah tribe had its quota renewed to catch up to 20 gray whales over the next five years, even though permission to engage in a hunt was bogged down in the U.S. court system.The North Pacific Gray whale was taken off the endangered species list in 1994 and IWC scientists said earlier this year that a small hunt should not affect the population.

Ban on commercial whaling likely to stay

According to Gregory,Despite passing a symbolic resolution to overturn a 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling last year, it is unlikely that there will be enough support to formally end it when the International Whaling Commission meets here Monday. The ban was enacted in 1986 to protect several vulnerable species. Pro-whaling nations, including Japan, Norway and Iceland, argue that it can be lifted because whale populations have rebounded. Norway and Iceland do not recognize the ban and conduct commercial whaling.A 75 percent majority would be necessary to end the moratorium, and the symbolic resolution passed at last year's meeting fell short of that mark. Also, several pro-moratorium members have been added to the 75-member commission since then.Still, conservation advocates plan to watch the meeting carefully, and say whale-friendly nations need to push harder for stronger protection measures."Whales face more threats today than at any other time in history, with entanglements in fishing gear, pollution of the marine environment, ship strikes with high speed vessels, intense underwater noise and the looming threat of global change," said Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.Even though the moratorium is expected to stand for now, anti- and pro-whaling factions said other important issues need to be addressed by the IWC, including a program in which Japan kills about 1,000 whales each year for scientific research and then sells the meat.The program is nothing but a loophole that defies the moratorium and it should be better scrutinized, said Joel Reynolds with the Natural Resources Defense Council.Japan also would like to win "community whaling" status, which would give it quotas under provisions similar to those that allow some indigenous groups — such as Alaska natives — to hunt the mammals. Japan has tried and failed to get quotas for more than two decades, according to Joji Morishita, the alternate IWC commissioner for Japan.Japan contends that commercial whaling can coincide with environmental interests if done properly. The IWC needs to focus on managing the hunting of plentiful species rather than squelching a practice that has existed for thousands of years, said Morishita."There's a misunderstanding that Japan wants free, uncontrolled whaling," he said. "It's not true. We would like to have managed, controlled whaling, with quotas and enforcement."The meeting takes place Monday through Thursday.

Pressure mounts to end whale slaughter at international meeting

Killing whales विल बे banned soon....Gregory talks about this The International Whaling Commission holds its annual talks in Alaska next week amid pressure to end an impasse over commercial and scientific whaling threatening the conservation of the gentle giants. The 75-nation group charged with managing the world's whale populations established a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 --yet more than 20,000 whales have been killed since then for commercial purposes.In 2006 alone more than 2,000 whales were killed, more than in any year since the moratorium entered into effect, environmental groups say."The protection of whales is a global concern," said Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, one of the largest environmental scientific and advocacy organizations in the United States."The current regime to conserve whales is failing to do the job. Unless the global community can find a better way to address some of the weaknesses of the current whale conservation regime, these animals face an increasingly uncertain future," he said.The Commission is divided into pro-and anti-whaling groups, with the annual meeting serving as the perennial battleground over the fate of the commercial whaling moratorium.The pro-whaling nations -- Japan, Iceland and Norway -- won a razor-thin 33-32 victory at the Commission's 2006 meeting in the Caribbean, passing a symbolic resolution saying the whaling moratorium was no longer necessary.Although the trio needs a 75 percent majority to end the moratorium, they have been exploiting loopholes in the suspension which allows them to kill whales for "scientific research."Japan, which says whale meat is part of its culture, has been recruiting friendly countries to the Commission. Critics say it is really offering economic aid to Commission members in return for pro-whaling votes.Last week land-locked Laos, with no history of whaling, said it would join the Commission to back Japan's position.The conservation lobby, led by western countries including Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Britain, is also on a relentless recruitment drive."This year the conservation bloc is looking very good," New Zealand's Minister of Conservation Chris Carter."A number of Latin American countries which previously supported the Japanese -- like Panama and Nicaragua, Costa Rica and so on -- have all joined the conservation bloc, mainly because those countries see eco-tourism now as their future," he said.Greece, Croatia and Israel have also joined the IWC on the conservation side, he added.But environmentalists fear the cause could still be weakened if Japan succeeds in changing some Commission rules, which require only simple majorities."A simple majority can do a lot of damage in terms of changing the tone of the commission and the way it interacts with other international organizations," warned Kate Nattrass, spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.Patrick Ramage, head of the Fund's global whale campaign, has taken its conservation message to new heights, flying a plane painted with humpback whales in a bid to lobby countries attending the Alaska talks to cut back on whaling.Later this year, Japan will for the first time harpoon and kill 50 humpbacks, risking international condemnation. Another likely controversial issue at the Commission's upcoming meeting is a debate on the renewal of so called aboriginal subsistence whaling quotas. Quotas under discussion include a bowhead whale hunt undertaken by the Alaskan Inuit. Japan has used the US request for this quota as a way to get Washington to support, at least in principle, Tokyo's request for a coastal whaling quota, conservation groups say. Washington needs three quarters of the Commission's members to approve the Inuit quota, and Japan and its allies hold enough votes to block approval, they said. A bipartisan group of 56 members of the US Congress has sent a strongly worded letter to the administration of President George W. Bush, asking it to fight harder for whale conservation and against commercial whaling. The Whaling Commission is meeting on US soil for the first time in nearly two decades, which gives the United States an opportunity "to reestablish itself as a leader on whale conservation," said Democratic lawmaker Nick Rahall (news, bio, voting record), head of the House of Representatives natural resources panel.

Japan rallies whaling nations despite protests

Japan held talks with dozens of countries to plot the future of the global whaling body, but most Western states boycotted the meeting as a charade aimed at resuming commercial hunting. The three-day meeting kicked off to a small protest by environmentalists, who accused the delegates -- most of them from developing nations -- of being bought off by Japanese money.Japan invited all 72 members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to take part but, in a sign it is nearly split down the middle, 34 countries showed up.The participating nations on the first day discussed eight problems seen in the whaling body including "increasing emotionalism," host Japan said.Tokyo called the meeting to "normalise" the IWC -- which it believes is supposed to manage whale hunting rather than ban it -- but said it had sought to hear from those on both sides of the debate."It was disappointing that some countries didn't show up, but that doesn't mean that we will close the door on them," said Joji Morishita, director for international negotiations at Japan's Fisheries Agency.Australia, Britain and the United States are among the whaling opponents shunning the Tokyo conference.Japan, which says that whale meat is part of its culture, kills more than 1,000 whales a year using a loophole in a global moratorium meant to protect the giant sea creatures.Denmark -- considered a key swing vote on the IWC -- attended the Tokyo conference, defying environmental group Greenpeace which had urged supporters to call Danish embassies worldwide to ask for a boycott.Ole Samsing, the head of Denmark's delegation, said Danes were divided themselves as indigenous people in Greenland have a tradition of whaling."We call ourselves the kingdom in the middle of the IWC," Samsing told AFP."We are a small society within which you find the IWC situation," he said. "My hope is we can somehow find the words which are not offensive to the other side, to get normality, rationality back to the organisation."Ahead of the conference, militant activists clashed twice with whalers in the Antarctic Ocean, where Japan is carrying out its annual hunt despite strong objections from Australia and New Zealand.Sea Shepherd, a hardline offshoot of Greenpeace, said Tuesday it would not carry out threats to ram the Japanese whalers with a ship after an appeal from New Zealand.Greenpeace said Japan was using the Tokyo gathering to show off its rising clout before the next meeting in May of the IWC, whose annual gatherings are known for their acrimony.Activists stood outside the conference hall, with one dressed as a crying whale and another wearing a mask of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.As a bus of delegates rolled in, the Abe lookalike hoisted up a poster with the names of 28 countries attending the conference, each with a 10,000-yen note taped next to its flag."Many countries in the IWC agree that it needs to be reformed, but not in the way that Japan has presented. Japan is recruiting countries with money," said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan's campaign chief. "This meeting is not about normalisation, it's about commercialisation," he said. Japan says it abides by the 1986 whaling moratorium by killing whales for "research," with the meat going on sale. Norway and Iceland defy the IWC altogether and pursue commercial hunting. Three anti-whaling nations -- Oman, South Africa and Switzerland -- took part in the conference. "Because the situation is so difficult, one should take any chance to discuss" it, Swiss delegate Bruno Mainini said. "I think for the public it is already difficult to understand why an organisation like the IWC, that meets once a year, is not able to be more productive and efficient," he said.