CHAIR’S SUMMARY REPORT FOR THE 58TH ANNUAL MEETING,
ST. KITTS & NEVIS, June 2006 The 58th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) took place at the
Marriott Hotel, St. Kitts from 16 to 20 June. It was Chaired by Henrik Fischer (Denmark). The associated meetings of the Scientific Committee and Commission sub-groups were held at the same venue in the period
1 to 13 June. A brief report of the outcomes of the main agenda items is provided below.
For the full Chair's Report please click HERE.
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PRESS RELEASE – DAY 5–
TUESDAY 20 JUNE
The primary items of business on the final day
concerned administrative matters, many of which had
originally been discussed by the
Finance and Administration Committee. The
Commission agreed on a
process for the 2007 meeting to improve
facilities for French and Spanish speaking countries
and agreed by consensus a
resolution on the use of languages other than
English. The Commission had received a request from
St Kitts and Nevis to receive funds from the
reserves to cover unforeseen costs of hosting the
meeting. Although this was not agreed (a vote on
this issue resulted in 30 votes in favour and 30
against with 4 abstentions), a number of Governments
agreed to make voluntary contributions to help in
this regard.
The Commission agreed to a
Code of Conduct for non-governmental
organisations.
This year marked the final year of the three-year
term of the present Chair of the Commission, Henrik
Fisher (Denmark). The Commission thanked him for his
fair and wise Chairmanship and wished him well in
his retirement. The Commissioners for the USA (Dr
William Hogarth) and Japan (Mr Minoru Morimoto) were
elected as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively.
Next year’s meeting will be held in Anchorage,
Alaska from 4-31 May. The 2008 meeting will be held
in Chile.
PRESS RELEASE – DAY 4 –
MONDAY 19 JUNE
The primary items of business in the morning
concerned environmental issues. The Commission
received the report of the Scientific Committee on a
number of matters. The Committee had spent two-days
prior to the main meeting discussing seismic surveys
and their potential effect on cetaceans with
industry representatives, geophysical contractors,
national regulatory agencies and funding bodies. It
considerably advanced the Committee’s ability to
address this issue. It also welcomed the final
report of Phase 1 of POLLUTION 2000+, an IWC
sponsored international research programme to
examine possible cause-effect relationships between
chemical pollutants and cetaceans. The next issue
covered was that of whalewatching, particularly its
scientific aspects. The Scientific Committee had
received reports that it agreed showed that in some
circumstances, whalewatching and vessel traffic can
have an adverse impact on some small cetacean
populations and it encouraged further similar
studies to be undertaken on large whales.
The Commission then turned to the issue of
small
cetaceans. Notwithstanding the different views
of member countries over the legal competence of the
IWC to manage small cetaceans, many Contracting
Governments continue to co-operate in the
consideration of small cetacean issues, particularly
with respect to the work of the Scientific
Committee. This year the Committee discussed matters
related to the small cetaceans in the small
cetaceans in the Caribbean and western tropical
Atlantic, as well as reviewing progress on its
previous recommendations on species such as the
critically-endangered vaquita and baiji.
Before adopting the
Report
of the Scientific Committee, the Commission
reviewed and agreed its Workplan for the coming
year.
As a result of certain incidents that happened at
sea last year, the Commission passed a
resolution by consensus dealing with the safety
of vessels engaged in whaling and whale-related
research.
The Commission then discussed the
Report of the Conservation Committee. Although
there was some disagreement over the establishment
and terms of reference for this Committee, the
Commission agreed that it had made good progress in
addressing issues surrounding whales being killed or
seriously injured by ship strikes.
Finally, the Commission considered the
Report of its Infractions Sub-committee. This
sub-committee receives reports from Governments
concerning any breaches of whaling regulations
discovered.
PRESS RELEASE – DAY 3 – SUNDAY
18 JUNE
The primary item of business in the morning
concerned the question of Sanctuaries. A proposal by
Brazil and Argentina for a South Atlantic Sanctuary
was again presented to the Commission. Such a
proposal would have required a three-quarters
majority to have been adopted. In the event, after
considerable discussion, the matter was not put to
the vote. A proposal to abolish the Southern Ocean
Sanctuary was again presented to the Commission by
Japan. It would also have required a three-quarters
majority to pass but was defeated by 28 votes to 33
with 4 abstentions.
The Commission then turned its attention to the
question of
special permit whaling. Last year, Japan began
the first year of a two-year feasibility study for a
research programme in the Antarctic. Under the
lethal component of the programme, 853 Antarctic
minke whales and 10 fin whales were caught. Japan
also has a North Pacific programme under which a
total of 220 common minke, 50 Bryde’s, 100 sei and 5
sperm whales were caught. As part of its programme,
Iceland took 39 common minke whales.
The issue of special permit whaling is controversial
within the Commission and, as in previous years,
strong statements were made both for and against
special permit whaling.
The Commission then returned to its discussion of
the agenda item ‘Normalising
the IWC’ that had been left over from the
previous day. The primary document considered was
called the ‘St Kitts and Nevis Declaration’. The
document declared a commitment to ‘normalising the
functions of the IWC based on: the terms of the
International Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling and other relevant international law;
respect for cultural diversity and traditions of
coastal peoples and the fundamental principles of
sustainable use of resources; and the need for
science-based policy and rulemaking that are
accepted as the world standard for the management of
marine resources.’ After a ruling from the Chair,
the document was voted upon as a draft Resolution.
It was accepted by 33 votes to 32 with 1 abstention
and can be found
HERE. Several of the countries voting ‘no’
formally disassociated themselves from the
declaration after the result was declared.
PRESS RELEASE – DAY 2 –
SATURDAY 17 JUNE
Today, the Commission first considered the
question of aboriginal subsistence whaling. The
report of its Sub-Committee on Aboriginal
Subsistence Whaling can be found
HERE. The Commission was pleased to received new
abundance estimates for the common minke whale
(3,500, 95%CI 1,500-7,700) and fin whale (1,700
95%CI 840-3,500) off West Greenland, an area where
recent estimates had been lacking. After reviewing
the available information, the Commission agreed to
retain the present catch limits. These can be found
HERE.
The Commission then went on to discuss progress
with the Revised
Management Scheme. This year there had been an
intersessional working group meeting in Cambridge
and a follow up session prior to the Annual Meeting.
The reports of the Working Group can be found
HERE. Despite considerable discussion, it was
agreed that talks had reached an impasse. While
individual governments or groups of governments may
work together on ways forward, at the end of today’s
discussions, there is no formal Commission activity
identified for the coming year. The Commission then
began consideration of an item placed on the Agenda
by Japan entitled ‘Normalising
the IWC’. There was considerable discussion
about what this might mean for the IWC, including
suggestions that the word ‘normalisation’ might be
replaced by ‘modernisation’ or ‘harmonisation’.
Considerably different views were put forward but no
agreement was reached. The item was left open until
Day 3.
The primary item of business in the afternoon was
discussion of matters related to socio-economic
implications and small-type whaling. Japan gave a
presentation on the hardship suffered by its four
community-based whaling communities in Japan (Abashiri,
Ayukawa, Wadaura and Taiji) as a result of the
moratorium and introduced the
Taiji Declaration on Traditional Whaling. In
2004, the Commission had reaffirmed the Commission’s
commitment to work expeditiously to alleviate the
continued difficulties caused by the cessation of
minke whaling (see
Resolution 2004-2).
Japan introduced a proposal to allow the taking
of up to 150 minke whales from the Okhotsk Sea-West
Pacific stock of the North Pacific each year until
2009 or until the quota based on RMS is decided,
whichever was earlier. This would have required a
three-quarters majority to become effective. In the
event, there were 30 votes in favour, 31 votes
against and 4 abstentions. Japan decided not to
present a similar proposal for a take of up to 150
Bryde’s whales.
PRESS RELEASE – DAY 1 –
FRIDAY 16 JUNE
Proceedings began on the first day with an
opening ceremony organised by Dr Hermia
Morton-Anthony, Chair of the local organising
committee. The Ceremony included music, prayers,
poetry and speeches of welcome from the Chair of the
Commission, Henrik Fisher from Denmark and the
Honourable Dr Timothy Harris, Minister of Foreign
Affairs for St Kitts and Nevis. There are four new
members to the Commission bringing the total to 70,
of which 66 are present. The full list of countries
can be found
HERE.
On the opening morning, the main items were
business item and the adoption of the Agenda. Japan
had requested deletion of one of the items related
to small cetaceans, that referring to Commission
discussions of the report of the Scientific
Committee on that item. After some discussion, the
matter was put to the vote and the proposal to
delete the item was defeated by 32 votes to 30 with
1 abstention.
As in previous years, the Commission considered
whether to include an option for secret ballots as
part of its Rules of Procedure. A proposal to this
end was defeated by 33 votes to 30 with 1
abstention.
Finally, the Commission was pleased to accept
Chile’s offer to host the 2008 Annual Meeting.
In the afternoon, the Commission turned to the
report of the Scientific Committee on the status of
a number of large whale stocks. New information was
received on Antarctic minke whales, North Pacific
common minke whales, Southern Hemisphere humpback
whales, Southern Hemisphere blue whales and a number
of other small stocks of bowhead, right and gray
whales. There was some positive evidence of
increases in abundance for several of the stocks of
humpback, blue and right whales in the Southern
Hemisphere, although they remain at reduced levels
compared to their pre-whaling numbers. Information
remains lacking for other stocks.
Special attention was paid to the status of the
endangered western North Pacific gray whale, whose
feeding grounds coincide with oil and gas operations
off Sakhalin Island, Russian Federation. The
population numbers only about 122 animals and
although there is evidence that it has been
increasing at perhaps 3% per year over the last
decade, any additional deaths, for example in
fishing gear as has recently occurred, put the
survival of the population in doubt.
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