Let the Meeting Begin

The first day of plenary session started off with less than a bang (more like a soft pop). We started the day with opening statements from the President of the regional government of Madeira and the Portugese Minister of the Environment. They emphasized the importance of research and conservation, stressing the economic value of whale watching versus whaling. The overall message was one of compromise to get over the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) “stalemate.”

IWC Chair Bill Hogarth took the floor to announce that he had received no draft resolutions to be considered and voted on by the Commission. The nations of the IWC have agreed to work towards consensus in this year’s meeting (just as they did last year) in order to generate a more cooperative and, supposedly, more efficient meeting. However, being that there are extremely divergent opinions from different nations of the IWC and consensus is almost impossible, this agreement ties the Commission’s hands so that no decisions can be made. Perhaps even worse is that if no resolutions are presented to the group, there is no discussion on these important issues.

Whale Stock Review

We launched into the Scientific Committee’s (SC) report on whale stock estimates. The SC is still working on the abundance estimate for Antarctic minke whales, which are the focus of one of Japan’s research whaling programs (JARPA), and hope to have it by 2010. There is a discrepancy between the two models they have used to estimate overall abundance based on sightings data during boat-based surveys in the Antarctic. The SC is also working on an abundance estimate for Western North Pacific minke whale, which is the focus of the other Japanese research whaling program (JARPN). There is concern about the so-called “J” stock, which is lower in number than the “O” stock and has a significant problem with bycatch in local fisheries. The United Kingdom and the United States expressed concern about the J stock and the continued whaling efforts on this stock. Japan rebutted by saying that the concerns about this stock are exaggerated; it must be increasing because Japan’s bycatch of these animals has been increasing (you have to love the logic!).

Next on the agenda were humpback whales around eastern Africa. The SC found that there has been significant recovery of several of these sub-stocks; the recovery estimates range from 65% to 98%, depending on the stock and the model results. New Zealand expressed concern that the IWC use the conservative principle when dealing with this species, because the recovery rates of different stocks are very different and they intermingle in certain areas of their range.

The last major discussion in whale stocks dealt with western gray whales, which are highly endangered. The SC recommended increased research effort, including satellite tagging and genetic analyses, to better understand the movements and potential threats to this species. The U.K. and U.S. expressed concern about this species and encouraged research efforts. However, the Russian Federation expressed reservations over the effect of research on the whales. They encouraged cooperation and sharing of data so that research efforts, such as biopsy sampling, would not be repeated by different researchers, thereby reducing the effect on the whales.

Review of Whale Killing Methods

Under this agenda item, the committee chair reviewed the data submitted by Norway, Greenland and the Alaskan Inuit. These data are voluntary; Iceland and Japan do not submit their data to the IWC. Norway caught 535 whales in 2008 and only four were struck and lost. Although Norway has been consistent in reported their catch numbers in recent years, several nations encouraged them to also submit welfare information, such as the time between the first strike and death of the animal (“time to death”). Greenland reported an increase in time to death; this difference was due to increased use of rifles instead of harpoons, but they did not specify why rifles were used more often in 2008. The Alaskan Inuits reported 38 whales caught and 12 struck and lost (only 76% efficiency); this percentage was due to poor weather and ice cover. The U.K. suggested that the IWC compare the standards used by the World Organization of Animal Health for domestic animals with whaling practices in order to come up with a minimum standard for animal welfare. Norway responded by saying that people should not have double standards and should look within their own countries to see how hunted birds, deer and other species are treated (good point, but I would argue that this means we should have minimum standards for all animals, including whales).

Thoughts on the Day

Overall, the first day of plenary session was short, relatively congenial and not overly interesting. The divergent opinions of pro and anti-whaling nations occasionally peaked through during discussion, but we will have to wait for discussions later in the week to really see sparks fly.