It is always a risk to stick your neck out, but Ireland is concerned that the IWC might break up. ... That would not be good for conservation.» So says Irish whaling commissioner and IWC vice-chairman Michael Canny, in reference to why he is about to steal the headlines at this year’s IWC.
Ireland is making a bid to broker a compromise between the IWC’s pro- and anti-whaling camps, following a string of similar calls this year from such IWC veterans as secretary Ray Gambell and former US commissioner John Knauss. But given the current polarisation of positions on whaling, achieving this while retaining good will on both sides seems as likely as seeing peace in Israel or the Balkans.
At the end of the day, Michael Canny is either going to be a Nobel Laureate ... or have an awful lot of œuf on his face!
Eternity Means Forever
There are five elements to the Canny proposal, of which four are important
and one — concerning regulations for whale-watching — is a distraction.
The important ones, with some added interpretation, are as follows.
1) The anti-whaling block, led by Australia, New Zealand and the UK,
must abandon their dream of banning all whaling for eternity, and allow
implementation of the Revised Managed Scheme (RMS), so that «non-zero»
quotas can be set.
2) The moratorium paragraph will remain in the IWC’s Schedule, but
an exemption will be included for coastal whaling for local consumption
only. This will not make the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling category redundant,
says Canny, as special adjustments to the RMS will be needed to meet the
cultural and subsistence needs of indigenous peoples.
3) Element (2) has the added purpose of effectively banning international
trade. As Canny points out, a precedent for the IWC regulating distribution
of whaling products has been set for the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling
category, but this element of the compromise will surely provoke renewed
discussion of whether the IWC’s mandate extends to trade matters.
4) Whaling nations will issue statements saying that no more permits for research whaling will be issued. This must be done on a voluntary basis, as any amendment to the Schedule on this point would be in conflict with Article 8 of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
Flying Pigs
Does such a proposal have a snowball’s chance in hell? The Harpoon
believes not (see «Storm Clouds Brewing»), unless concessions
of a magnitude unheard of in the IWC are made.
But Canny is, as one would expect, upbeat. «There will be elements of the compromise that will be difficult to accept for both extremes within the commission,» he admits. «(But) between the extremes of zero whaling and full-scale commercial whaling, there may be a scope to reach concensus to limit whaling for the medium term.»
Ireland has consulted with «a lot of countries», he says. And if these talks have not given him cause for unbridled optimism, he is hopeful that a breakthrough can be achieved when the IWC convenes next year in Oman — by which time he is widely tipped to be IWC chairman.
«We are not going to get a schedule amendment this year,» he says. «What we hope to achieve is to get people into serious discussions.»
And that, in itself, would probably require a Schedule amendment!
(See also: Storm Clouds Brewing and our Harpoon Cartoon)