IWC 65 AWI comment

This meeting has been unusual (unique really), in that Non-governmental bodies have been able to comment under relevant agenda items; many of these interventions have been eloquent and to the point. here is one good example from today from Sue Fisher of the Animal Welfare Institute. 

I will show in the following post about the day's proceedings where this fits.

Thank you chair,

We note that the IWC has a long history of cooperating with CITES, the convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which maintains a prohibition on International commercial trade in whale products in species protected by the IWC’s commercial whaling moratorium.

We note with disappointment, therefore, that three contracting governments to the IWC and a territory of a fourth are trading in whale meat for commercial purposes on a significant scale under reservations to the CITES Appendix I listing of whales, or as a non-party to CITES. For instance, Iceland has exported more than 5,000 tonnes of whale products to Japan, as well as shipping whale meat and blubber to Norway on at least two occasions in 2013.  In addition, Norway has now resumed trade in whale products to Japan, and has exported whale meat to the Faroe islands on more than thirteen occasions since xx

We also note that this Commission has adopted numerous resolutions welcoming the continuing cooperation between CITES and the IWC while, in turn CITES Resolution Conference 11.4 (Rev. CoP12) on the Conservation of cetaceans, trade in cetacean specimens and the relationship with the International Whaling Commission expresses concern that international trade in meat and other products of whales is lacking adequate international monitoring or control.

On this point, we would note that at the 2013 meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) drew attention to the escalation in trade in whale products in recent years, and noted that trade under reservation can result in “sizeable levels of trade and may undermine the effectiveness of Appendix I listings.”