Australia Reports International Whaling Commission Makes Progress

Environment Protection Minister, Peter Garrett, said today the door was now open for the International Whaling Commission to grasp a unique opportunity for genuine renewal and reform following last week’s meeting in Morocco.

Minister Garrett said he welcomed the outcomes of the meeting, which made progress on conservation initiatives and importantly did not proceed with a proposal by the Chair which would have ended the moratorium on commercial whaling.

Australia faced a number of significant challenges as we headed into last week’s IWC meeting including the need to ensure that the moratorium on commercial whaling was retained and to ensure that we continued to advance our strong reform agenda.

I am pleased that the Australian delegation which I led had the opportunity to make its views heard and that the Commission took some important steps towards renewing itself as a conservation-focused organisation,” Mr Garrett said.

It is now crucial that the IWC does not lose momentum and uses the coming months to focus on practical activities on which member countries can work constructively.

In part thanks to Australia’s leadership, very good progress has been made over the past 12 months in the development of the IWC’s first whale conservation management plans, in delivering support for whale watching operations worldwide and in the implementation of a research agenda focused on non-lethal scientific research.

Australia has already pointed a way forward on these issues through its work with the Southern Ocean non-lethal whale research partnership.

It also provided significant funding support of $500,000 last year for conservation management plans.

We will continue to work closely with other conservation-minded countries to finalise regional whale conservation management plans for some of the world’s most threatened whale species, including South American southern right whales and western gray whales.

I encourage other countries to join us in this important work. We are also exploring a joint Australia-South Africa collaboration for the second Southern Ocean voyage under the Southern Ocean Research Partnership. A successful six week joint Australian-New Zealand Antarctic Whale Expedition to the Southern Ocean took place earlier this year.

The IWC also needs to move quickly to review and improve its rules and procedures to ensure that they are brought in to line with contemporary governance standards, following acceptance of Australia’s push for the Commission to undertake a stocktake in these areas. Australia’s vision for the IWC, outlined in our nine-point proposal released in February is very clear.

We want to see an IWC that will not only ensure the protection of whales into the future, but will also create a modern, scientific and conservation-based organisation. Support for Australia’s objective of ending whaling in IWC-approved whale sanctuaries sends a strong message that people around the world don’t want to see whaling in the Southern Ocean, Mr Garrett said.

Gov Monitor

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Fast facts

   

Obama Administration Keeps Promise on Whale Conservation at International Talks

… to his credit, the President was listening

You would be hard pressed to find a director of an environmental group who is more critical than yours truly regarding the gap between President Obama’s visionary campaign messages and his actual leadership on environmental issues. (ditto)

But I must say that I was impressed when I heard the U.S. government’s position against commercial whaling and any trade of whale products at the International Whaling Commission. While the nations that gathered failed to come to an agreement that could help save whales — largely because countries like Japan refuse to stop slaughtering whales — the President and his team stood their ground in the end.

While campaigning for president, Obama promised Greenpeace that under his leadership, the United States would work to strengthen the international moratorium on commercial whaling. He declared that “allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable.”

That promise came under question this year when we received confirmation that the President was supporting a proposal that would have lifted the 24-year ban on commercial whaling. In response, 1.5 million people signed petitions urging the White House to stand up for whales and President Obama, to his credit, listened. The US statement at the IWC meeting reaffirmed the government’s support for whale conservation:

“First and foremost, the United States continues to support the commercial whaling moratorium. We strongly oppose lethal scientific whaling — we strongly believe it unnecessary for modern whale conservation and management. In particular, the United States is concerned by whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, and by the increased international trade and black market trade in whale meat and whale products.”

This year, the best we could do was keep the IWC from rolling back protections for whales. Next year, the IWC needs to get serious and close the loopholes that have allowed Japan, Iceland, and Norway to flaunt the moratorium and keep slaughtering whales. As I write this, four Japanese whaling ships are currently navigating the Northwestern Pacific, planning to kill 260 whales by the end of August.

For over thirty years, Greenpeace has been an outspoken opponent of commercial whaling, taking action to stop the harpooners in their home countries, at sea and in the political arena of IWC meetings and our commitment to bringing about its end in all of our oceans remains. Hopefully by this time next year, we’ll be in a position to get the IWC to actually do something positive, instead of having to work like mad just to keep them from moving backwards. Today, the United States stayed true to Obama’s promise to Americans. Today, I feel that hope about the President and our chances to stop whaling that so many felt when President Obama first called on America to share his hope for a better future for our children and grandchildren.

Huffington Post

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The White House

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