Ocean Sentry
The humpback whales that were threatened with a return to Japan”s scientific whaling list should be safe from the harpoon for another summer.
Bill Hogarth, who played a key role in the suspension of the humpback hunt last December, said he believed Japan would honour a commitment not to take the whales at least until 2009.
Dr Hogarth, chairman of the International Whaling Commission, persuaded Japan to drop the humpback kill from its 1000 whale Antarctic “scientific research” list after outrage in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
He told reporters in Chile’s capital Santiago today that he had warned the Japanese that the humpback kill could be the “last straw” for the deeply split IWC.
The 50 humpbacks to be targeted would have included some of the great mammals now on their winter migration along the Australian east and west coasts.
Dr Hogarth said the Japanese Government did some additional thinking and “moved back”, agreeing to suspend the humpback hunt at least until the IWC meeting in Santiago.
Asked whether he thought the suspension would continue longer, Dr Hogarth said: “I think Japan, and this is just my thought, will honour that until 2009.”
It is then that Dr Hogarth hopes to have a plan for reform of the IWC on the table. He will try to persuade the 80-nation organisation to agree at least on the components of a reform package this week.
The Japanese Government said after discussions with Mr Hogarth that it would suspend the humpback kill while it judged that the deeply split IWC was progressing toward “normalisation” – which in its view is a sustainable commercial kill.
But Dr Hogarth rejected a suggestion he made a deal with Japan over the humpbacks.
“Honestly there was no deal with Japan,” he said. “I went straight there on humpbacks but I think you all know… I can’t make a deal with Japan. It takes three quarters of 80 (nations).”
The IWC meeting opens tomorrow.
