Five Pacific Nations Fail Whales Claims Greenpeace
The environmental organization Greenpeace claims five Pacific Island countries "not only let whales down but also refused to help preserve a big part of the Pacific Islands’ regional culture at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Alaska."
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans Team Leader Nilesh Goundar said Kiribati, Nauru, Republic of Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau voted against a resolution on a South Atlantic Whales Sanctuary supported by most of the Latin American countries on the IWC.
Greenpeace says the five Pacific countries also teamed up with Japan and did not participate on New Zealand's proposal to close the scientific whaling loophole called JARPA2(1).
The third vote against whale conservation was on a resolution on the non-lethal use of cetaceans. Palau, Tuvalu, Nauru, and Republic of Marshall Islands again followed the lead of Japan by "not participating".
On the fourth vote Palau, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru all voted for a proposal put forward by Denmark/Greenland for their quota on subsistence whaling while Marshall Islands was absent.
“Greenpeace recognises the right of indigenous peoples to harvest traditional foods if it is part of their ancient customs and is needed for their subsistence , as in the case of Innuit peoples of North America,” says Goundar. “However, Greenpeace reserves the right to oppose any hunt if it threatens the recovery and survival of the whale population.”
The fifth and final vote was on a resolution to ensure whales remain protected from hunting under the CITES convention on international trade in endangered species All five Pacific Island members again followed Japan's lead and “did not participate”.
"The majority vote by 37-4 in favour of the CITES resolution effectively overturns the St Kitts Declaration from last year’s IWC. It reconfirms that the moratorium on commercial whaling is as valid today as it was when it was first enacted twenty years go,” claims Goundar.
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The IWC meeting ran from May 28 - 31 with more than 70 nations in attendance.
