IWC Stalemate Continues

The International Whaling Commission met in late June to discuss whaling practices worldwide, and many hoped that a compromise could be made with Japan to end its whaling in the Antarctic, a practice which kills around 1,000 whales each year. However, at the end of the week-long meeting, all that was agreed to were more compromise talks, and the outgoing chair of the IWC even suggested that the international moratorium on whaling end.

A compromise was suggested before the convention in which Japan would reduce its whaling quotas in the Antarctic sanctuary in return for the ability to hunt whales in its own coastal waters. Groups such as Greenpeace found the compromise deal as proposed to be unacceptable. They demanded that the moratorium be upheld and that restrictions be tightened even more.

Dr. William Hogarth, chair of the IWC until this year, suggested in his closing remarks that the moratorium be removed for the good of the whales. According to him, ending the moratorium while imposing other regulations would prevent Japan's circumventing of the moratorium, as they claim that their whaling is for scientific purposes, a claim that essentially allows them to hunt unregulated. One Greenpeace activist, however, said that lifting the moratorium would essentially allow whales to be hunted to extinction.

At the end of the meetings, which finished a day early, all that was agreed to was a year of more compromise talks, because the deadline for achieving an acceptable solution was perceived to be too tight. Meanwhile, the future of the world's whales hangs in the balance.