Posted on November, 08 2001
Norway and Japan, the only two countries that have whaling industries, are beginning joint preparations to re-open international trade in whale meat starting in a few months' time. The two countries have been trying to diminish international criticism of their move by developing DNA registers of all whales caught under their self-awarded quota so that any whale meat on the market may be checked to see if it comes from this catch. However, in June 2000 a survey undertaken by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade arm of WWF and IUCN, sent 19 samples of whale meat bought on the Norwegian market to the government for matching with the Norwegian DNA register. Fifteen months later, and despite reminders, Norwegian authorities have not responded to requests for confirmation that the samples do indeed match with its register. Meanwhile, the Norwegians report that their register has been audited and approved as fully operational. WWF also warns that Japan's register is not complete since it does not yet include DNA from all the whale meat held in frozen stockpiles.
"It seems as though Norway may have something to hide," says WWF's whale expert Cassandra Phillips. "If the DNA registers are not open to international scrutiny they cannot be relied on to keep illegally caught whales out of the trade, and illegal whaling and smuggling will get a green light."
WWF is also concerned that if the international trade in whale meat does go ahead, Norway is likely to increase its self-allocated yearly quota of whales it can catch. Currently Norwegian whalers take over 500 Northern minke whales a year despite the global moratorium on whaling agreed in the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
At the same time, Japan's whaling fleet set sail again on November 6th for the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary for another season of what they refer to as 'scientific' whaling. Exploiting a loophole in the IWC convention which allows nations to catch whales for legitimate scientific purposes, between now and April 2002 they aim to take up to 440 Southern minke whales. Already, from May to August of this year, the 'scientific' hunt caught 100 minkes, 50 Bryde's and 8 sperm whales in the North Pacific. Since the moratorium came into effect in 1986, Japan has caught a total of 5,779 whales for "research."
WWF calls on Norway and Japan to abide by the ban on international trade in whale meat agreed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), from which Norway and Japan have exempted themselves. More than 150 countries are currently Parties to the CITES treaty. Japan and Norway have repeatedly asked CITES to downlist whales to a lower category of protection (Appendix II) that would allow for commercial trade. And repeatedly, the CITES Parties have rejected those proposals. "We call on Japan and Norway to comply with both the letter and spirit of the CITES treaty, and not engage in this trade," says Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF's Species Programme. "These two countries must refrain from opening international whale meat trade which undermines CITES, will stimulate increased whaling, and is impossible to police effectively."
For further information contact:
Cassandra Phillips, Coordinator on Whales and Whaling, WWF International, Tel. +44 1386 882055, cphillips@wwfint.org
Dr. Susan Lieberman, Species Programme Director, WWF International, Tel. +44 (0) 1483-412-560 SLieberman@wwf.org.uk
Mitzi Borromeo; Press Officer, WWF International; Tel. +41 22 364 9571, GCOMM@wwfint.org