MEDIA RELEASE
12 July 2001.
Australia And New Zealand Should Leave Their Frivolous Whale Sanctuary Proposal At Home
“The positions of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand are threatening the continued existence of the
International Whaling Commission and they will attend the meeting of the Commission’s annual meeting for all the wrong
reasons,” says Japan.
Joji Morishita, the Deputy Director of the Government of Japan’s Fisheries Agency made these comments in response to
continuing press statements from Senator Robert Hill of Australia and Conservation Minister Sandra Lee of New Zealand
that they will continue their efforts to establish a whale sanctuary for the South Pacific at the upcoming meeting of
the International Whaling Commission in London.
“The proposed sanctuary was defeated at last year’s meeting because it has no scientific basis, it is not needed for
conservation and it subverts the purpose of the Treaty which is to manage whaling on a sustainable basis,” Mr Morishita
said.
He added, “The positions of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand to oppose the resumption of any commercial
whaling irrespective of the status of whale stocks undermines almost a decade of work by the IWC and its Scientific
Committee and the conservative, risk-averse procedure for managing whaling that has been developed.”
“Their continued efforts to block the implementation of this procedure and thereby the resumption of whaling threatens
the continued existence of the IWC. It is also contrary to the principle of sustainable use of resources that is now the
world standard and applied by both Governments in the management of their domestic resources.”
“Australia’s and New Zealand’s positions are clearly a double standard and represent a false green. Overprotection of
whale populations, which are now abundant and increasing, not only threatens the existence of the IWC but it threatens
to undermine international efforts to conserve other fishery resources,” said Mr Morishita.
(more to come)
“Whales consume three to five times the amount of fishery resources harvested for human consumption and the direct
competition between whales and fisheries has been recognized as a serious problem worldwide.”
“The focus of this year’s meeting should be about implementing the IWC’s management procedure that would provide safe
quotas only for abundant stocks. As a member of the IWC, Australia and New Zealand have a legal obligation to work
towards this objective in good faith. They should leave their frivolous proposal for the sanctuary at home,” said Mr
Morishita.
For more information contact: Joji Morishita, Deputy Director, Far Seas Fisheries Division, Fisheries Agency, Government
of Japan at the Novotel London West, Hammersmith. Ph 0044 208 741 1555