Post by LSDeep on Apr 19, 2006 13:24:48 GMT -5
Apr 18, 2006
New Zealand is making an intensive diplomatic effort to shore up anti-whaling numbers at next month's meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
Prominent pro-whaling country Japan has been close to gaining a majority control of the International Whaling Committee in past meetings of the organisation and there are now reports it has gained the necessary support.
Japan has said it will use the IWC meeting in June to renew its push for a resumption of commercial whaling.
New Zealand's commissioner to the IWC, Sir Geoffrey Palmer says there is a real chance Japan will gain control of the meeting in June. He says Japan has recruited land-locked nations such as Mongolia, as well as many Pacific nations. In addition the meeting will be held in the Caribbean Island St Kitts, where Japan also has strong support.
Palmer says the anti-whaling nations, including New Zealand, are asking as many nations as possible to join the IWC to boost the anti-whaling lobby. He says there is hope Pacific nations such as Fiji, Samoan and Tonga can be recruited to boost anti-whaling votes.
Palmer says if Japan wins 75% of the IWC vote, commercial whaling would resume which he says would be a tragedy.
The Japanese announcement came as Japan's whaling fleet returned home after months operating in the waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The country's vessels have killed 853 minke whales and 10 fin whales during their latest expedition.
Late last month the Australian government released a study that, it said, proved there was no justification for countries such as Japan, Norway and Iceland to kill whales for scientific research.
Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division completed the aims set out in Japan's scientific whaling programme without having to kill a single whale.
The research will be presented to the IWC in June.
Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research - a privately owned, non-profit whale research centre in Tokyo authorised by the Japanese government - says Australia's claim that it could reproduce Japan's results using non-lethal methods was simply not the case.
New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter says shaming the Japanese over their whaling activities may be the best way to persuade them not to reinstate commercial whaling.
Carter says many younger Japanese have no taste for whale meat and he believes they are embarassed by their government's stance on whaling.
Cindy Baxter of Greenpeace says in Japan the mood towards whale meat is changing. The organisation says stockpiles of whale meat have nearly doubled over the past decade to 5,000 tonnes.
Source: RNZ/TVNZ Interactive
tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/702323
New Zealand is making an intensive diplomatic effort to shore up anti-whaling numbers at next month's meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
Prominent pro-whaling country Japan has been close to gaining a majority control of the International Whaling Committee in past meetings of the organisation and there are now reports it has gained the necessary support.
Japan has said it will use the IWC meeting in June to renew its push for a resumption of commercial whaling.
New Zealand's commissioner to the IWC, Sir Geoffrey Palmer says there is a real chance Japan will gain control of the meeting in June. He says Japan has recruited land-locked nations such as Mongolia, as well as many Pacific nations. In addition the meeting will be held in the Caribbean Island St Kitts, where Japan also has strong support.
Palmer says the anti-whaling nations, including New Zealand, are asking as many nations as possible to join the IWC to boost the anti-whaling lobby. He says there is hope Pacific nations such as Fiji, Samoan and Tonga can be recruited to boost anti-whaling votes.
Palmer says if Japan wins 75% of the IWC vote, commercial whaling would resume which he says would be a tragedy.
The Japanese announcement came as Japan's whaling fleet returned home after months operating in the waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The country's vessels have killed 853 minke whales and 10 fin whales during their latest expedition.
Late last month the Australian government released a study that, it said, proved there was no justification for countries such as Japan, Norway and Iceland to kill whales for scientific research.
Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division completed the aims set out in Japan's scientific whaling programme without having to kill a single whale.
The research will be presented to the IWC in June.
Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research - a privately owned, non-profit whale research centre in Tokyo authorised by the Japanese government - says Australia's claim that it could reproduce Japan's results using non-lethal methods was simply not the case.
New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter says shaming the Japanese over their whaling activities may be the best way to persuade them not to reinstate commercial whaling.
Carter says many younger Japanese have no taste for whale meat and he believes they are embarassed by their government's stance on whaling.
Cindy Baxter of Greenpeace says in Japan the mood towards whale meat is changing. The organisation says stockpiles of whale meat have nearly doubled over the past decade to 5,000 tonnes.
Source: RNZ/TVNZ Interactive
tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/702323