By Jay Alabaster
Tokyo - The International Whaling Commission has proposed the first legal commercial whale hunts in 25 years, setting strict quotas but ending an outright ban that had many exceptions.
Japan, Norway and Iceland are the main nations that have continued hunts under those exceptions, and small indigenous groups also hunt in limited numbers. The proposal released late Thursday night would replace the worldwide ban with strict quotas and would let the group strictly monitor all whaling.
The proposal is an attempted compromise between whaling nations and others such as the U.S. and Australia in the camp that has long been staunchly opposed to whaling. The commission argues that allowing whaling under strict quotas would be an improvement to the current hunts, over which it has no control.
Only countries that currently hunt whales would be allowed to do so under the proposed limits.
The proposal allows 400 minke whales to be hunted in the Antarctic each year for five years, then lowers that limit to 200 for the next five years.
It also allows limited annual hunts of other species, including fin, bowhead and gray whales, in specific regions, and raises the possibility of humpback and sperm whale hunts as well.
The IWC is preparing for a general meeting in June in Morocco, where it will debate and vote on the proposal. A proposed return to commercial whaling was released earlier this year without specifics.
The three main whaling nations - Japan, Norway and Iceland - annually kill about 3,000 whales, 10 times as many as in 1993.
Japan each year hunts hundreds of mostly minke whales - which are not endangered - under a research program exempted under the ban. Excess meat is sold for consumption, leading critics to call the program a mere cover for commercial hunts.
Japanese officials were cautiously positive on the scheme, which would allow it to commercially hunt whales close to its shores.
"A catch quota for minke whales in Japanese small-type coastal whaling is our long-term cherished desire, and under the framework proposed by the chair, that desire can be realized," said Fisheries Agency official Toshinori Uoya.
However, Japanese officials also criticized the proposed limits on minke hunts, which would be lower than the country's current take from research whaling. Agriculture Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said Tokyo would "persistantly continue negotiations" to address this "gap."
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the IWC's proposal does not deliver what New Zealand wants - that it must be significantly better than the status quo and meet the country's commitment to end whaling in the southern ocean.
"The catch limits proposed in the southern ocean are unrealistic. The proposal to include (endangered) fin whales in the southern ocean is inflammatory. New Zealanders will not accept this," he said in a statement.
Environmental groups were quick to criticize the proposal, which they say could lead to an eventual return to the large-scale whaling of the past, which devastated many species.
"At the moment, it appears that the whales are making all the concessions, not the whalers and this proposal keeps dying whaling industries alive and not the whales," said Greenpeace Japan Program Director Junichi Sato in a statement.
Sato added, however, that it was "encouraging" to see the IWC was working to improve conservation efforts.
On the front lawn of New Zealand's Parliament, about 100 Greenpeace anti-whaling protesters Friday held black whale-tail placards aloft with "RIP?" written across them in white letters.
Greenpeace New Zealand executive director Bunny McDiarmid condemned the plan.
"If it doesn't lead to an end of whaling, particularly of commercial whaling and whaling in the southern ocean whale sancturary, it's not good enough," McDiarmid told The Associated Press in Wellington.
Only countries that currently hunt whales would be allowed to do so under the proposal. The whaling season would run from March to November, and the proposal would last until 2020.
Japan currently hunts up to 935 minke whales in the Antarctic, plus 220 in coastal waters, under its research program. Under the IWC proposal, 400 minke whales in the Antarctic, plus another 120 in coastal waters, would be allowed, during the next five years.
The Antarctic is the scene of annual clashes between Japanese whalers and Sea Shepherd, a U.S.-based conservation group.
The proposal also would allow 67 bowhead whales, 145 gray whales and 50 sei whales to be hunted each year in the northern Pacific. It includes humpback and sperm whales, but sets the initial quota at zero for the entire 10-year period.
The commisssion was formed in 1946 to deal with whaling issues and has 88 member countries. -
Sapa-AP