U.N. body rejects bid to resume whale trade

Since trade in the gray whale was outlawed in 1949, its numbers have recovered to between 22,000 and 32,000

April 18, 2000
Web posted at: 11:39 a.m. EDT (1539 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Japan and Norway have failed in their latest attempt to overturn an international ban on the commercial trade in whales.

Government delegates from 150 nations at the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species rejected four separate proposals to allow trade in specific populations of gray and minke whales.

Japan presented three proposals, Norway one. They needed a two-thirds majority but were in a minority in each vote.

Whale hunting opponents expressed satisfaction with Saturday's outcome.

"The tide is going against Norway and Japan in their attempts to resume commercial whaling," said John Frizell of Greenpeace.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Japan and Norway say gray and minke whale numbers have rebounded into healthy and stable populations and that commercial hunting should resume.

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"I do hope that quite soon, Norway, Iceland and Japan would engage in international trade in minke whale meat, which they are entitled to do according to international law, and according to scientists," said Rune Frovik of the High North Alliance, a Norway-based organization that works to protect the rights of whalers.

Conservationists contend that both Norway and Japan have skirted the moratorium.

"Japan is doing scientific whaling and of course selling the whale meat back in Japan, and Norway is whaling under an objection to the IWC's moratorium," said Cassandra Phillips of the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

Norway caught almost 600 minke whales in its coastal waters last year and Japan took more than 400 minkes, mostly in Antarctica, under a clause allowing catches for scientific research. Norwegians eat whale meat as steaks or in stews but do not consume the blubber. In Japan the blubber is eaten raw as a delicacy.

Japan and Norway say they should be allowed to resume commercial whale hunting, but so far they have been unable to overturn the international ban

For the small whaling industries in those two countries, losing the votes was a major defeat.

"This is a blow to the small communities, villages and families that are dependent on this catch," said Peter Johan Schei, a Norwegian government representative.

Mitsuyoshi Murakami of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research said he was "absolutely disappointed."

"We have to make more effort to get understanding from all the world," Murakami said.

The whaling proposals were voted down in committee. The full plenary session of the conference is expected to affirm the votes next week.

Schei said Norway could decide to ignore the trade ban when the whale hunting season starts later this month.

The gray whale, which can grow to 15 meters (yards) in length and 35 tons in weight, is best known for its annual round-trip migration to the warm bays of Baja California in Mexico. There, the whales mate, give birth and nurse before returning to the waters of Alaska.

Trade in the gray whale has been outlawed since 1949 because uncontrolled whaling had put it on the verge of extinction. Its numbers have since recovered to anywhere between 22,000 and 32,000, the majority ranging in the eastern north Pacific between Russian and Siberia.

Minke whales are the most abundant of the great whales, with more than a million swimming the world's oceans. They can grow to 10 meters (yards) and 10 tons.

Norway and Japan raise the issue routinely at meetings of the International Whaling Commission and the U.N. body. They have been unable to overturn the hunting and trade bans despite developing monitoring systems, including DNA tracking schemes, which they say would prevent the formation of an illegal market in whale meat.

Reporter Gary Strieker and Reuters contributed to this report.

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