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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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Editorial: IWC
& Whales ...
... is there a pea under any cup?
by Eugene Lapointe
IWMC President |
Is
the hand quicker than the eye, or will a deft hand fool the imperceptive eye
every time? Who among us has not seen the carnival hawker and tried to guess
under which of three cups was the precious pea hidden? I remember placing my bet
as a child and watching the hawker with a sly grin, slide the cups round and
round his slick table. Yet as fast as he twirled the cups, my youthful eye never
lost track, probably because of a slight mark on the side of the cup he placed
over the pea. Imagine my amazement when the coveted pea appeared under a
different cup! Little did I know about how the game was played at that early
age, or why the carnival hawker seemed to pick up the cash every time.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meetings will take place next
month in London, and once again, the carnival games will begin. In 1982, a
moratorium on whaling was established, that took effect in 1986. By 1990, the
IWC was to evaluate current cetacean research and new catch limits were to be
set using a new, Revised Management Procedure (RMP). The RMP and its Revised
Management Scheme (RMS) were supposed to end the moratorium, with a sustainable
harvest procedure that ensured the whales would continue to prosper while
supporting a closely managed cultural and traditional whaling scheme for coastal
communities.
Far from ending the moratorium, the RMP and RMS have become a battlefield in
a confrontation of cultures and values. Although ostensibly about whales, and
science, the IWC forum has become a carnival game with very high stakes. It is
not about science. The science is in place to justify harvest of several whale
species. It is not about sustainable use either, because most parties realize
the taking of one or two whales from herds of thousands, and in cases, millions,
is no threat to whale populations. The game focuses on a philosophical clash of
cultures and values, based on the beliefs of animal rights activists that no
whales should ever again be harvested.
Whales may be on the surface of this confrontation, but the world- wide game
being played with whales runs much deeper. It is not about whether or not people
should kill and eat whales, but whether or not people have the right to kill and
eat any animal. A rat, is a pig, is a dog, is a boy is the well- worn theme of
the animal rights movement. The game is not only about whales. That is just the
beginning. The ultimate game played on the IWC stage, is about moving humanity
another incremental step along the road toward eliminating human utilization of
any animal, domestic or wild.
Each vote against ending the whaling moratorium, when science no longer
supports the need for absolute protection, brings the world one step closer to
the imposing philosophy that animals have the same rights as you, your children
and your ancestors. Every abstention buys the time needed for multi- national
animal rights organizations to spin their elitist, western web into a new world
order. And behind every opposing vote, each delay, and the endless iterations of
science and public distortion, lies the deft hand of an animal rights coalition,
spinning the cups, sliding the pea off the table, and picking up the cash from
the imperceptive eyes of the public. 
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