Labour rejects proposals to resume limited commercial whaling

Chris Carter has said Labour would not support any measures proposed at the International Whaling Commission that could see an end to the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. He urges the National/ACT Government to resist any moves to lift the ban on commercial whaling.

Labour’s Foreign Affairs Spokesperson said that New Zealand had a proud international record of leadership in whale conservation. Reintroducing limited commercial whaling would fly in the face of that policy. He believes re-introducing commercial whaling, even on a limited scale, could result in the extinction of a number of whale species already threatened by past overhunting, global climate change and increasing marine pollution.

The draft plan, drawn up by a working group of the International Whaling Commission and released in Canberra yesterday, proposes that limited commercial whaling could be allowed through setting caps on takes for 10 year periods. The proposal will be debated by a small group of countries, including New Zealand, in Florida in early March.

“I know that that this document is only a draft and any agreement to implement it would have to take place at the next IWC meeting in Morocco in June,” Mr Carter said. “However it is really important that New Zealand remain staunch in opposing the reintroduction on even limited commercial whaling.”

One very practical problem would be in determining the catch quotas for whale harvesting. Japan has long agued that many whale species are not endangered although this claim has been disputed by many reputable marine scientists. If the prohibition is lifted there is a real danger wholesale commercial hunting could begin in earnest.

“How would the harvest quotas be enforced and by whom?” Mr Carter asked. “These are all practical problems which, if permitted, could see some of the most vulnerable whale species driven rapidly to extinction.”

“One of the lessons of history is that appeasement rarely works in the long run. The best way to stop Japanese whaling is to embarrass Japan into abandoning this cruel and environmentally indefensible practice. One way New Zealand could do this would be to make a firm decision to join in Australia’s plan to take Japan to the International Court of Justice if it has not abandoned whaling in the Southern Ocean by November.”

ENDS

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