|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 53rd annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is scheduled to consider a variety of matters: whale watching; small cetacean management; the establishment of a southern Pacific whale sanctuary and the return of Iceland to IWC membership. All of these proposals merit discussion. However, they pale in importance and in comparison to the most important item on the IWC agenda, namely, the need to finalize the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) for the regulated taking of non-endangered whale species on a sustainable basis. The text of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) specifically obligates the IWC, to protect the interests of whales and whales alike, to maintain the health of whale stocks while promoting the interests of whaling communities. Hence, the finalization of the RMS, which touches directly upon the resumption and regulation of whaling, goes to the heart of the IWC's responsibilities, to the health of our oceans and to the men and women who, traditionally, derive their living from them. The pertinent scientific considerations indicate that it is past time for the IWC to fulfill its legal obligations to whaling communities by finalizing the RMS so that they may undertake sustainable commercial whaling of non-endangered species under a regulated regime whose parameters are determined by impartial scientific considerations. Some IWC members have averred their desire to oppose any resumption of commercial whaling. Meanwhile, they hinder useful research program and attempt to proliferate a whole series of unscientific whale sanctuaries around the world. Such actions violate both the IWC's legal obligations to whaling communities and the ICRW's stipulation that IWC management deliberations and decisions shall be purely science-based. Those of us who are utterly unable and unwilling to base our global whaling policy on science should reflect that, in pursuing a non-scientific total moratorium on commercial whaling, they are trespassing on the most delicate cultural moves. Some nations have never consumed whale meat while others have taken whales and consumed their meat for many centuries and intend to continue to do so. It is not the right time or place for non-whaling cultures to force their own moves on to other whaling cultures. The credibility and integrity of the International Whaling Commission is now
at stake. If it fails to respond to manifest scientific evidence and implement
the RMS, as its charter requires, its reputation will lie in shreds and the
responsibility for managing the global whaling regime will pass into other, more
effective hands. |
