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IWC-54 eNewsletter |
22 May 2002 |
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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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IWMC Opening
Statement
Shimonoseki, Japan |
Opening
Statement
to the 54th Annual Meeting
of the International Whaling Commission
by
IWMC-World Conservation Trust
May 2002
IWMC-World Conservation Trust extends its most
sincere compliments to our most gracious hosts, the government and people of
Japan. Shimonoseki is a port with a long tradition of whaling and is therefore
a most appropriate setting for resolving the outstanding question of the
Revised Management Scheme (RMS). Japan has been a whaling nation for hundreds
of years. It is especially noteworthy that whales have always been valued here
for much more than their oil, with a feature of the nation’s culture being
its consumption of whale meat.
We hope that the 54th meeting of
the International Whaling Commission is marked by progress. Recent meetings
have appeared scripted and formulaic. Yet the certainty of the outcome of
particular votes seems to have also instilled within the IWC an overall feeling
of uncertainty about the future. We believe these feelings are well-placed and
that all representatives at Shimonoseki should reflect on the dangers of
continuing to oppose the RMS and on what Oscar Wilde famously referred to as
the importance of being earnest. The challenge now is for the IWC to quickly
get its house in order.
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