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Defending the whales

There is heart-warming support round the world for the conservation of whales. This should ensure the defeat of reactionary attempts to resume their commercial slaughter. These attempts will be made at the forthcoming annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Anchorage, Alaska. The killing of whales for commerce is prohibited under a 21-year-old moratorium adopted by the IWC but Japan, Iceland, and some other countries have been trying to overturn it for years. Japan has been severely criticised by conservationists for killing a large number of whales — exploiting the provision for scientific experiments and selling the meat. In 2006, the Japan-led group managed to get a declaration in favour of resumed whaling adopted at the IWC meeting in St. Kitts by just one vote. Mercifully, such attempts will fail because a three-fourths majority is required to lift the ban. The killing of whales, which are magnificent and gentle sociable sea mammals, represents a senseless and brutal assault on the world's threatened natural heritage. Fortunately, there is little demand for whale meat, especially among environmentally conscious young people, and Japan is in the sordid situation of having to campaign among its citizens for whale meat consumption. Nevertheless, the danger to whale populations is higher than ever before: they now face a double assault, from harpoons as well as changes in sea life linked to climate change. The most devastating change seems to be the large-scale loss of krill, which forms their major diet.

Whales may be safe from mass slaughter for the present but there is an urgent need to strengthen the legal basis for their protection. The proposal made by the Labour party in Australia to pursue violations of the IWC moratorium in international legal fora and ensure the safety of whales in sanctuaries with the help of navy vessels provides a good basis to evolve conservation actions. In the absence of active protection from governments, the defence of whales has been left to militant campaigners such as Greenpeace activists who risk their lives to confront Japanese whaling fleets that pursue minke and fin whales mainly in the Antarctic sanctuary area. More aggressive action is inevitable as Japan intends to kill charismatic humpback whales in addition to its regular take in the current year. India, with its long history of supporting international conservation measures, must strongly oppose any move to relax the ban on commercial whaling. The enlightened agenda the international leaders of whale conservation — Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States — need to adopt is the conversion of the IWC into a science-based conservation organisation rather than one pursuing the antiquated charter of regulated whaling.

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