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The International Whaling Commission may be headed for collapse
unless it can overcome distrust, delegates to a special meeting of
the group said on Wednesday as Japan prepared a new coastal whaling
proposal.
Japan and like-minded nations gathered in Tokyo this week for a
meeting they hoped would build momentum to resume commercial whale
hunts, shifting the commission's focus to management of whales from
the current moratorium.
Japanese officials have termed the three-day meeting a final
attempt to save the commission by drafting proposals to submit at
its annual gathering in May.
Thirty-five of the 72 commission members are taking part but some
26 anti-whaling nations - including Australia, New Zealand and the
United States - boycotted the Japanese meeting, making prospects
for dialogue within the polarised organisation slim.
"Definitely it's not going in a good direction," said Joji
Morishita, Japan's alternate commissioner to the group. "Denial of
dialogue is not good. You can say that the IWC has to change itself
- or it could collapse."
Others said pro-whaling nations still want to try for change but
added patience was wearing thin.
"Something has to happen drastically so both parties can have a
win-win situation," said Amalie Jessen, a delegate from Greenland.
"That means both conservation and sustainable use."
Morishita said Japan would announce on Thursday, the last day of
the conference, details of a new coastal whaling proposal it will
make at the commission meeting in May.
Japan has for years asked for permission to hunt minke whales off
its coast, without success. Last year it asked to take 150 minkes
but the proposal was voted down.
The commission instituted a commercial whaling ban in 1986. But the
group is now bitterly divided between countries that assert all
whales need protection and others, like Japan, that say some
species are now abundant enough for limited hunting.
Delegates to the Tokyo meeting criticised anti-whaling nations for
refusing to attend, saying that they had chosen confrontation over
compromise.
Japan, which says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition, began
scientific research whaling in 1987.
The meat, which under commission rules must be sold for
consumption, ends up in supermarkets and restaurants but appetite
for what is now a delicacy is fading.
Some experts say Japan fears that limits on whaling will lead to
limits on all Japanese fishing, a crucial food source in a nation
with limited agricultural land. Others argue the whaling campaign
is a form of nationalist diplomacy.
