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Scientists Call IUCN Whale Report “Misleading” The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) report intended to help guide delegates in their decision-making process on the whale proposals pending before COP 11 drew unexpected criticism from many of the scientists on the report’s scientific review panel. The report was labeled “unbalanced” and “misleading” by a number of the world’s leading scientists IUCN had approached to act as reviewers of the IUCN findings. Such charges not only called the credibility of the IUCN report into doubt, they also posed a serious problem to the entire COP 11 policy-making process regarding proposals by Norway and Japan to downlist certain stocks of minke whales as well as the Eastern Pacific stock of gray whales. Traditionally respected for its scientific objectivity, IUCN found itself in the doubly embarrassing position of having its credibility challenged and its relationship with the CITES Secretariat strained over the incident. The Secretariat used the IUCN Whale report as the rationale behind its shift from a preliminary position supporting the whale downlisting proposals to one recommending rejection by COP 11 delegates. Among the complaints issued by the panel of experts was the lack of time IUCN allowed them to review and comment on the accuracy of the report’s final draft. Some were given only hours, leaving virtually no time to correct any misleading information contained in the report. A number of the scientists cast doubt that their views were “taken into account” by the report drafters. Perhaps the most serious charge was that a number of the panelists said they disagreed with the report’s conclusions. One disgruntled reviewer said the standards IUCN applied to the whale stocks in question were unrealistic not only for the whales in question but also for any current commercially fished marine species. He then went on to pose the hypothetical question asking if IUCN was “advocating the suspension of all high seas fishing?” The controversy has left COP 11 delegates wondering what response this criticism will prompt from the Secretariat on the whale issues. |
