JAPAN/FILE: International Whaling Commission special conference ends amid anti-whalers' boycott

A frustrated Japan hinted at leaving the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after anti-whaling nations boycotted the Japan-hosted conference. Japan called on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Thursday (February 15) to break the deadlock between pro- and anti-whaling nations or it would have to rethink its options, including possibly quitting the group. Japan and like-minded nations ended the special meeting in Tokyo on Thursday. They hoped the session would build momentum to resume commercial whale hunts, shifting the IWC's focus to management from moratorium. Thirty-seven of the 72 IWC members took part. The three-day meeting, which Japanese officials had termed a final attempt to save the IWC, was boycotted by 26 anti-whaling nations, including the United States, Australia and New Zealand, prompting criticism that they had chosen confrontation over dialogue and the need to restore trust. "The countries that decided to boycott this meeting - well, they disappoint me and are disturbing. I think it would have been much better if we can work together," said Stefan Asmundsson, a delegate from Iceland, which last year resumed commercial whaling. "It sort of begs questions on where that leaves the IWC if we have many countries that don't want to improve things. Where do we go from there? I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that," he added. Joji Morishita, Japan's alternate commissioner to the IWC, told reporters that improvement in the group had to be made within months, certainly by the group's annual meeting in Anchorage in May. Otherwise, he suggested, Japan might consider leaving the IWC all together. "I think that's very unfortunate and regrettable if this initiative will not change the situation," Morishita said. "But I have the sense, feeling, that this would give some change, not a total change to the International Whaling Commission. But a small change is all we need at this stage." Japan on Thursday said it will also ask the IWC for permission to hunt an unspecified number of minke whales off its coast, a move likely to anger the group. Tokyo has submitted similar proposals for years and had them voted down. In what it termed a "major concession," Japan said the whales to be taken under the new proposal would be part of its existing 220-minke Pacific hunt, with no rise in numbers. Meanwhile, Japan currently has one of its whaling ships on fire off the coast of Antarctica which has sparked fears of an environmental disaster if the ship's 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and chemicals should leak.

ITN Source | February 15, 2007

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