“The IWC must decide if its 51st Meeting in Grenada will be it’s last.  IWC’s refusal to reopen whaling to those cultures and nations who’ve eaten whale from the beginning of history has made IWC increasingly less relevant to these people,” said Eugene Lapointe, president of IWMC-World Conservation Trust. 

“The Caribbean’s Caribs and Creoles, the Arctic’s Inuits, America’s Pacific Northwest First Nations, the Japanese, Maoris, Norwegians, Icelanders, and other whaling cultures will feed their people with or without IWC permission.  And, as they have from time immemorial, they will do so as careful conservators of the ocean’s resources,” said Lapointe. 

The wasteful days of unregulated and environmentally unsound whaling for oil are gone.  The very nations who dumped whale meat and depleted the great whales in their rush to light and lubricate their cities are today the world powers who would deny cultures and nations the sustainable harvest of abundant whale stocks for food. 

“While all IWC member nations are supposed to be equal, the superpower nations dominate IWC and refuse to allow smaller nations like St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Antigua, Barbuda, or St. Lucia to hold positions of influence within IWC,” said Lapointe. 

“Delegates from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, the UK and other non-whaling nations have gathered to deny whaling people the means to preserve their heritage and traditions.  To date, these people and nations have exhibited great restraint in the face of these cultural insults.  The day they turn their back on IWC may be at hand,” said Lapointe. 

“If IWC wishes to reject its 53 year old mandate – to conserve whales while providing for an orderly development of the whaling industry – fine.  Let IWC change its name from the International Whaling Commission to the International Whale Commission,” said Lapointe. 

IWMC-World Conservation Trust is a worldwide organization promoting conservation of all nature’s resources, including its human resource, through sustainable activities and respect for each culture’s sovereign rights.  Eugene Lapointe served from 1982 to 1990 as Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), arguably the single most important position within the world conservation community. �