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Source: Reuters -
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The United States is leading an effort that could result in an
agreement in coming weeks to limit and ultimately end whale hunting
by Japan, Norway and Iceland, The New York Times reported.
Citing people involved with the negotiations, the newspaper said
the compromise deal - which has sparked controversy within the
88-nation International Whaling Commission - would allow the three
countries to keep hunting whales for the next 10 years in reduced
numbers.
In exchange, the whaling nations would agree to stricter monitoring
of their operations, including tracking devices and international
monitors on all whaling ships and participation in a whale DNA
registry to track global trade in whale products.
The newspaper said officials involved in the talks were hopeful
they could reach agreement in coming weeks, although ratification
by the overall group is uncertain.
"This is one of the toughest negotiations I've been involved in in
38 years," The Times quoted Cristian Maquieira, the Chilean
chairman of the commission, as saying.
"If this initiative fails now, it means going back to years of
acrimony."
Last month, diplomats involved in the talks said during a meeting
in Florida that they were in the middle of a diplomatic crisis over
differences in the commission regarding whaling.
Japan, Norway and Iceland are the only countries that now hunt
whales.
Australia, New Zealand and other countries want to ban all
whaling.
The compromise of reduced hunting for 10 more years is a hard
one to get the commission members to agree on.
Anti-whaling activists have called for a ban on all whaling within
a short amount of time and have urged an end to the hunting of
threatened whale species.
The commission's annual meeting is scheduled for June in
Morocco.
The Times said representatives to the whaling commission from more
than a dozen countries including the three whaling countries and
others backing a compromise deal are in Washington this week to
negotiate terms of the agreement.
