Whaling quotas for
indigenous groups in Alaska, Russia and the Caribbean were renewed at the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting. The vote came despite questions over whether
the bid from St Vincent and the Grenadines qualified under IWC rules. A bid for
similar quotas in Greenland has yet to be debated. Aboriginal subsistence
whaling (ASW) is allowed if indigenous peoples have a "nutritional and
cultural need" and there is no danger to whale stocks. The debate saw
heated exchanges involving an allegation from the St Kitts and Nevis delegate,
Daven Joseph, that the mainly Latin American countries seeking to block the bid
were "bordering on racism". "Small nations are being singled
out," he said. "If [St Vincent and the Grenadines] are hunting for
four humpback whales each year from a population of 10,000, who gives the
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile or Costa Rica the right to tell St Vincent
how to use the whales?" But others said that the bid should not qualify
under ASW rules because the Bequians, the group that maintains the hunt, are
not truly indigenous. Whaling "started by a settler's family as recently
as a 1875 does not qualify as 'aboriginal'," argued Monaco's Frederic
Briand. "So we may ask a fundamental question - is there a justification
for further approval of this quota?" Louise Mitchell Joseph, speaking on
behalf of the Eastern Caribbean Coalition of Environmental Awareness, said
there was no documented history of whaling in the islands. "There have
been many archaeological excavations conducted, and there was no evidence found
whatsoever of whale hunting by aboriginal peoples," she said. "Neither
whale remains nor weapons that could have been used to kill such a large
mammals were ever found; neither are any images of whales inscribed on our
petroglyphs."
Success in triplicate
Peter Sanchez,
speaking for the Dominican Republic, said the hunt was "artisanal whaling
out of control". "[The hunters have] repeatedly broken the rules -
hunting for young ones and pregnant females," he said. "We recognise
the needs of indigenous peoples in the US and Russia but we cannot support the
[joint] request by all three countries." A number of delegations clearly
felt the same way, clarifying that they would have voted against the St Vincent
hunt if the three nations had presented their bids separately. But with the
vote overwhelmingly in favour by a margin of 48 to 10, it was evident that few
had the will to force the joint resolution into its component parts. Governments
have to apply for ASW quotas every five years, though the current batch may
last for six if, as anticipated, IWC members decide in future to hold their
meetings every two years. The vote means that Alaskan Inupiat retain their
quota of 56 bowhead whales each year. Russian indigenous peoples in Chukotka in
eastern Siberia will continue to hunt 120 gray whales annually, while the
Bequians retain their annual right to four humpbacks. A separate resolution
submitted by Denmark on behalf of Greenland is requesting an expansion of the
quotas currently enjoyed by Inuit communities, enhancing the take of humpback
and fin whales on the grounds that people need more whalemeat. But some
nations, including other EU members, are concerned by a recent report that
found whalemeat on sale to tourists, raising questions over whether the
Greenlanders really need quotas as large as those they currently have. The EU
is supposed to maintain a united front in forums such as the IWC, and a joint
position is being agreed back in Brussels, with a decision anticipated on
Wednesday.
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