 |
HIGH NORTH ALLIANCE
N-8390 Reine i Lofoten, Norway.
Tel.: (+47) 76 09 24 14. E-mail:hna@hna.no |
|
|
Norwegian to chair IWC’s Scientific Committee
|
| High North News 23.06.2005 |
For the first time in 40 years, a Norwegian will head the Scientific Committee to the International Whaling Commission.
|
Photo: High North Alliance. Arne Bjorge, new chair of IWC Scientific Committee. |
“I look forward to the work, but recognise that it will be a challenging task, Arne Bjorge says after he was formally elected to chair the Scientific Committee today.
Bjorge has been the vice-chair for the last three years, and is affiliated with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research. About 200 scientists from more than 30 nations participate in the Committee’s work.
The Scientific Committee works much more smoothly than the International Whaling Commission, which has an extremely high level of conflict, but at times this also surfaces within the Scientific Committee.
“I wish to contribute to ensure that the Scientific Committee continues to be a scientific body; that the discussions and disagreements are scientifically based, although I will try to achieve consensus wherever possible,” Bjorge says.
“The main objective of the Committee is to provide scientific advice to the Commission, and then the Commission makes the political decisions. The Committee is the most important international body for improving our scientific knowledge of whales, their biology and ecology,” Bjorge says.
Besides Norwegian Johan Ruud, who chaired the Scientific Committee in 1964, all chairs have been Anglo-Saxons from Australia, Great Britain and USA.
Johan Ruud chaired the Committee for only one year. He resigned in protest because the Commission refused to listen to scientific advice to reduce catch quotas, and continued to set Antarctic whaling quotas that were too high.
For more information:
|
High North Alliance IWC Survival Kit
Live broadcast of IWC Meeting (click “official language”)
|
 printer friendly version
|
|
|