In the end, environmentalists’ fears proved unfounded. The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Ulsan, South Korea, closed on 25 June with no real change to the status quo. But Japan stood by its plans to increase its “scientific” catches.
The meeting had opened to fears among the anti-whaling bloc, led by New Zealand, Australia and the UK, that pro-whaling nations might finally gain a majority among the 66 member states (91av, 18 June, p 6). “We all thought Japan would gain the numbers this year,” says Michael Kennedy of Humane Society International in Avalon, New South Wales, Australia. “They didn’t, but while we’ve held the fort, it took a lot more lobbying. Japan really put the pressure on.”
Although a three-quarters majority would have been needed to overturn the 19-year ban on commercial whaling, a simple majority would have been seen as a moral victory for Japan.
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Nonetheless, Japan said it intended to double its annual “scientific” minke whale quota, to 935. It also announced plans to take 50 humpbacks and 50 fin whales per year. Both are classed as “vulnerable” on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of threatened species.
The announcement “has massively raised the bar for minkes, while it’s just not clear how scientifically relevant any information from those 50 humpbacks will be,” says Nick Gales of the Australian Antarctic Division, a representative on the IWC’s scientific committee.
