US proposal to save whales: Lift ban on commercial whaling
Posted by Dave (in Ireland)
With the International Whaling Commission meeting in Alaska on the horizon, a former US official, Rollie Schmitten, has come out with an proposal on how to sort out the international conflict over whaling.
According to Andrew Darby, in The Age:
Mr Schmitten's proposed solution has four elements: phase out lethal scientific research, and whaling in sanctuaries; lift the moratorium using an agreed system to manage whaling; and prohibit international trade in whale meat.
"I believe any such compromise not only makes the IWC functional, but most likely, fewer whales would be killed," [Schmitten] said.
Schmitten's proposal is not dissimilar to the "Irish proposal" mooted at the 1997 IWC.
Schmitten's proposal:
1. Phase out lethal scientific research 2. Prohibit whaling in sanctuaries; 3. Lift the moratorium using an agreed system to manage whaling; 4. Prohibit international trade in whale meat.'
The Irish proposal:
1. The Revised Management Scheme (RMS) should be completed and adopted. The scheme must be conservative and provide in particular for inspection and observation procedures that will engender public confidence.
2. Where quotas are justified under the RMS, these should be restricted to coastal areas only and to nations who are now whaling. This would result in a defacto sanctuary over the oceans of the world.
3. Quotas should be issued for local consumption only. This would avoid the pressure on whaling which would result from international trade.
4. Lethal scientific whaling should be phased out over a period.
[5. Regulations for whale-watching should be prepared to minimize the impacts of disturbance on whale populations.] (This element was largely ignored in the debate that followed)
Both proposals seem similar, in that both seek tophase out 'scientific' whaling, both end international trade in whale meat, and both lift the moratorium. But they do differ:
1. The Irish Proposal restricted future whaling to nations that are now whaling.
2. The Irish Proposal made all high seas a whale sanctuary, whereas the Schmitten proposal would allow high seas whaling outside sanctuaries.
Japan initially welcomed the Irish Proposal as a step in their - yet couldn't accept points 2, 3 or 4. In other words they wanted the anti-whaling nations to agree to an end to the moratorium but refused to make any concessions in return.
