Shimonoseki, Japan/Auckland, New Zealand May23rd 2002: Proposed management plans for whaling by Japan and Sweden were
rejected by the IWC today.
Japan’s version of the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) that included the abolition of the moratorium on commercial
whaling and abolition of the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuaries was refused, showing Japan’s vote buying
policy has not been successful.
“This outrageous proposal would at a stroke have abolished all those hard won victories by conservation minded countries
and environmental groups at the IWC victories fought on behalf of the world’s remaining whales,” says Sarah Duthie
Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.
The alternative proposal sponsored by Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, Oman, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and
Finland also failed to gain the three-quarters majority required under IWC rules to pass.
“Management plans have never worked in the past and we’ve got no reason to believe they would work now,” says Duthie.
“Given the uncertainty surrounding the whale populations and the myriad environmental hazards they face, like toxic
pollution and climate change, Greenpeace believes only an outright ban on commercial whaling can give whales a chance to
recover.”
“Commercial whaling has no place in the 21st century,” says Duthie.
Ends