The legitimacy of the St Kitts declaration vote remains in serious question. A number of countries have tabled serious reservations and disassociated themselves from the resolution.
The so-called declaration is a whalers' wish list, peddling predictable and well rehearsed rhetoric, about cultural heritage, food security and poverty.


You may remember that during the last whaling season which ended in March, the five Japanese companies which own the Kyodo Senpaku whaling fleet divested their shares to the Government's Institute for Cetacean Research. There is just no commercial market for whale meat in Japan. The notion that whaling is vital to cultural heritage, food security and poverty is absurd.


For millions of years fish and whales have coexisted quite happily. In recent years vast armadas of factory fishing fleets have collapsed global fish stocks. Drift nets, bottom trawling and long lines scour and devour everything in their paths... maybe that has more to do with the collapsing fish stocks than poor innocent whales.

As Mike likes to say, "Blaming whales for collapsing fisheries is like blaming woodpeckers for deforestation." More news from the ground as it comes in ...

Meanwhile, here's the full St Kitts declaration and voting list:

THE VOTING LIST

In Favour of the St Kitts Declaration = 33:

Antigua & Barbuda, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Denmark, Dominica,
Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Kiribati, Mali, Marshall
Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Nauru, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau,
Russian Federation, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines,
Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Togo, Tuvalu

Against = 32:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic,
Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg,
Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Portugal, San Marino,
Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA.

Abstentions = 1:

China

Absent = 1:

Guatamala

THE AMENDED TEXT

IWC/58/16
Agenda Item 19

ST KITTS AND NEVIS DECLARATION

St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire,
Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Republic of Guinea, Iceland, Japan, Kiribati,
Mali, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Nauru,
Nicaragua, Norway, Republic of Palau, Russian Federation, St Lucia, St Vijncent
and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Togo, Tuvalu.

EMPHASIZING that the use of cetaceans in many parts of the world including the
Caribbean, contributes to sustainable coastal communities, sustainable
livelihoods, food security and poverty reduction and that placing the use of
whales outside the context of the globally accepted norm of science-based
management and rule-making for emotional reasons would set a bad precedent that
risks our use of fisheries and other renewable resources;

FURTHER EMPHAZING that the use of marine resources as an integral part of
development options is critically important at this time for a number of
countries experiencing the need to diversify their agriculture;

UNDERSTANDING that the purpose of the 1946 International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) is to "provide for the proper conservation of
whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling
industry" (quoted from the Preamble to the Convention) and that the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) is therefore about managing whaling to
ensure whale stocks are not over-harvested rather than protecting all whales
irrespective of their abundance;

NOTING that in 1982 the IWC adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling
(paragraph 10e of the Schedule to the ICRW) without advice from the
Commission's Scientific Committee that such measure was required for
conservation purposes;

FURTHER NOTING that the moratorium which was clearly intended as a temporary
measure is no longer necessary, that the Commission adopted a robust and
risk-averse procedure (RMP) for calculating quotas for abundant stocks of
baleen whales in 1994 and that the IWC's own Scientific Committee has agreed
that many species and stocks of whales are abundant and sustainable whaling is
possible;

CONCERNED that after 14 years of discussion and negotiation, the IWC has failed
to complete and implement a management regime to regulate commercial whaling;

ACCEPTING that scientific research has shown that whales consume huge quantities
of fish making the issue a matter of food security for coastal nations and
requiring that the issue of management of whale stocks must be considered in a
broader context of ecosystem management since eco-system management has now
become an international standard;

REJECTING as unacceptable that a number of international NGOs with self-interest
campaigns should use threats in an attempt to direct government policy on
matters of sovereign rights related to the use of resources for food security
and national development;

NOTING that the position of some members that are opposed to the resumption of
commercial whaling on a sustainable basis irrespective of the status of whale
stocks is contrary to the object and purpose of the International Convention
for the Regulation of Whaling;

UNDERSTANDING that the IWC can be saved from collapse only by implementing
conservation and management measures which will allow controlled and
sustainable whaling which would not mean a return to historic over-harvesting
and that continuing failure to do so serves neither the interests of whale
conservation nor management;

NOW THEREFORE:

- COMMISSIONERS express their concern that the IWC has failed to meet its
obligations under the terms of the ICRW and,

- DECLARE our commitment to normalize the functions of the IWC based on the
terms of the ICRW and other relevant international law, respect for cultural
diversity and traditions of coastal peoples and the fundamental principles of
sustainable use of resources, and the need for science-based policy and
rulemaking that are accepted as the world standard for the management of marine
resources.