Return to Commercial Whaling Could be Determined by Tiny Pacific island

One of the world's smallest states could determine whether commercial whaling is legitimised after a 25 year ban. The Pacific island of Palau,
which only achieved nationhood in 1992 and has a population of just
20,000, has said it intends to switch sides and join other anti-whaling countries at a crucial meeting next week.

The proposal to resume commercial whaling will be voted on in the next few days by the 88 countries who are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). If passed by a 75% majority, a new system of whaling quotas set by the IWC could be in place within months.

The proposal would allow commercial whaling of fin and other endangered whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary,
a vast area around Antarctica which is the primary feeding ground for
many whale species. The sanctuary was set up by the IWC but Japanese whalers catch more than 1,000 whales there each year under the guise of scientific research.

The
IWC meeting in Agadir, Morocco, is said to be finely balanced with pro-
and anti-whaling nations lobbying strongly to persuade non-committed
countries to back them.

But it is understood that the
European Union, which has been split by Denmark and Sweden choosing to
back the whaling nation of Norway, was close to reaching a common
position. "It's high stakes stuff. It could be very close indeed. We
are quietly hopeful that we will get a united EU position," said a
source close to the talks.

The IWC argues that it can
bridge the gap between countries that support and oppose whaling with
its so-called "peace plan". Iceland and Norway whale commercially,
setting their own quotas outside the IWC, while Japan exploits an IWC
loophole to catch whales under an exemption for scientific whaling.

Under
the IWC plan, countries would have to agree to catch limits set by the
IWC and based on scientific advice. It is not clear yet whether the
proposal would allow more or fewer whales to be hunted overall.

Christian
Macquieira, chair of the IWC, said: "The proposal was developed because
most members of the IWC, whatever their views on whaling, recognised
that the IWC was not doing a good enough job on whale conservation and the management of whaling."

He
added: "It had to be a compromise proposal, and that inevitably means
that no one gets everything they want. Given the criticism we have
received from all sides, we are probably not far off the correct
balance."

As in other years, the IWC meeting has been
rocked by allegations that Japan has used aid money to "buy" votes from
small island Pacific and Caribbean states. This is strongly denied but
Japanese aid is a known to be a significant source of income for many
small countries.

Palau's President Johnson Toribiong says
he was unconvinced by Japan's arguments. "They claimed that humans
consume 100 million tonnes of fish a year, [and] the whales consume
three to five times more, and that in order to ensure that the fish
stocks are not depleted, controlled hunting of whales should be
allowed," he said.

Today, Germany raised the stakes by
telling Iceland that in order to be granted EU membership, it must stop
whaling. The stipulation was included in a memo officially presented by
a representative of the German ambassador to Icelands.

Environmnent
groups have urged countries to vote against the IWC proposal. "If there
is one place on earth where whales should have full protection it is
the Southern Ocean," said Heather Sohl, species policy officer for WWF.
"Some whales feed exclusively in the Southern Ocean, not eating at all
during the winter months when they travel up to tropical waters.
Allowing commercial whaling in an area where whales are so vulnerable
goes against all logic."

The proposal would allow the
commercial killing of 65 fin whales in the Southern Ocean and 500 Sei
whales in the North Pacific over the 10-year period. Both fin and sei
whale species were depleted to severely low levels by previous whaling.