IFAW is now in the final year of a three-year programme which it claims is intended to provide “assistance to Russian researchers working on marine mammals”. In reality, this seemingly altruistic action is a subterfuge to buy the integrity of scientists and thereby undermine management of the Russian seal hunt.
Shopping Trip
In autumn 1994, IFAW founder Brian Davies went on a shopping trip to Russia, headed for the Archangel department of the Russian Institute of Marine Research (PINRO). Marine mammal researchers at PINRO are responsible for providing guidance for the management of marine mammals in the Barents Sea and along Russia’s northern coast.
Here, Davies offered contracts worth $300 a month to impoverished scientists provided they would stop killing seals for research or using seals provided by commercial hunters.
One scientist to receive IFAW’s offer, Vladimir Potelov, called it “a fabulous salary,” but rejected it because it would undermine the foundation on which the institute based its management advice. “As scientists we cannot waive the right to use the scientific data necessary to provide the best possible advice on how to manage sealing,” he told the Norwegian newspaper Nordlys. He also found it “extremely disturbing that rich organisations in the West can operate in such a way.”
To date, some 28 scientists at PINRO are believed to have accepted IFAW’s offer. In addition to these personal “grants”, IFAW also offered an annual grant of $20,000 to the institute. Harpoon has been unable to learn whether PINRO accepted this offer, but in 1995 donations were reportedly accepted by half a dozen other Russian institutes involved in marine mammal research.
IFAW’s attempt to pervert the course of science has caused consternation in Norway, which has a joint management programme with Russia for a sizable stock of harp seals.
“Both we and the Russians carry out a hunt for research purposes in addition to the fact that we make use of data from the ordinary seal hunt,” said Tore Haug of the Norwegian School of Fisheries in Tromsø to Nordlys. “Data from the hunt provides us with knowledge which would be difficult to obtain in any other way. Norwegian research would also suffer if Russian researchers were ‘bought’ in order to prevent the use of data from the hunt.”
Marine Mammal Council
With its shopping programme a success, IFAW now appears to be engaged in establishing a front organisation to provide credibility for the people it has bought.
Last September, a body called the Russian Marine Mammal Council was established, which described itself in a promotional document as “an independent organisation to unite scientists researching marine mammals.” In reality, the Council is a direct extension of the IFAW programme which first targeted PINRO.
There are indications, however, that the Council and IFAW wish to distance themselves from each other in the public’s perception.
The month after the Council was founded, a conference on marine mammals was held in Moscow. On invitations distributed by the Council, it claims responsibility for organising the conference, whilst acknowledging “active support from IFAW”.
According to the 1995 “Report on IFAW’s Work”, however, it was IFAW which convened the conference to review the progress of its “assistance” programme.
The Council has also announced the disbursement of grants to 51 Russian researchers working for various organisations, again with IFAW’s active support. In view of these developments, it seems clear that the Council has been established by IFAW to serve as a front for its activities in Russia, and to lend them credibility.
Political Influence
In seeking to control the marine mammal debate in Russia, IFAW does not seem to have overlooked the importance of political influence.
In spring 1994, Davies was accompanied by Duma deputy Mikhail Danilov on a trip on which he tried to persuade fishing cooperatives in Murmansk to stop sealing (Pravda Severa, July 16, 1995). By way of compensation he talked of large sums of money in US dollars.
“Danilov is so persistent in his propaganda for Davies’s ideas, that one cannot help but feel he must be on the fund’s payroll,” said Pravda Severa. Amongst other things, Danilov has written favourable articles on IFAW’s activities in the Russian press. He was also invited to Canada as Brian Davies’s guest, together with the chairman of a fisheries cooperative, with IFAW offering to cover the cost of tickets and visas (Gandvik TV, No.12, 1995). The chairman of the cooperative reportedly declined the invitation, but it is not known whether Danilov made the journey.
On the board of the Marine Mammal Council, meanwhile, is none other than Alexey Yablokov. Yablokov was formerly, and may still be today, Boris Yeltsin’s Special Advisor on Ecology and Health, who wields considerable influence over Russian policy on resources and the environment.
Canadian Mirror
IFAW’s maneuverings in Russia, and in particular the establishment of the Marine Mammal Council, have inevitably prompted comparisons with its strategy for destroying the Canadian seal hunt.
In Guelph, Ontario, is an organisation called the International Marine Mammal Association (IMMA). Despite attempts by the IMMA to distance itself from IFAW in the public’s perception (see tomorrow’s “Media Watch”), IFAW’s 1993 annual report reveals that the IMMA is in fact an IFAW subsidiary and has an IFAW director as its CEO. The IMMA’s principal function is to provide scientific “evidence” in support of IFAW positions, authoritative quotes for IFAW press releases, and interviews with the mass media. Ably heading the team of marine biologists at the IMMA is one David Lavigne, a prolific writer and speaker on sealing and trapping in support of IFAW’s positions on these issues. Lavigne is usually identified by his other affiliation, with the University of Guelph, and occasionally as the IMMA’s executive director. However, Harpoon has no knowledge of him ever claiming to represent IFAW.
There may be an important distinction, however, between IFAW’s Canadian and Russian strategies. While the IMMA is a lobbying group which IFAW quite legitimately has sought to cloak in respectability, IFAW’s activities in Russia have been focused on government scientists.
If its intention is to pervert the course of scientific research as conducted by public servants, the Russian government should be extremely concerned.