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| The Big Berni |
I will provide some commentary here over the next few days from the 66th meeting of the
International Whaling Commission – which happens to mark the 70th birthday of the IWC and
the 30th
anniversary of the global moratorium on commercial whaling – something which
has arguably saved the lives of thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands) of
whales.
I maintain this blog from such
meetings primarily as a way of keeping in touch with friends, family and
students and as it says on the blog opening page it represents only my own
views and not those of any entity, nation or institution that I may be
associated with. As in my previous reporting from international meetings, if I
make a mistake, please let me know and I will amend the report. Sometimes, of course, things do get misheard in the great meeting halls
of international conventions. Booming sound systems, accents and tired ears can
all contribute to this. For example, I distinctly recall one IWC Commissioner
referring to another in a meeting a few years ago in truly thunderous tones as
a ‘gerbil’– I duly reported this. At the time I considered that in cultures
other than my own it was possible that the term ‘gerbil’ could be a compliment
(the small jumping rodent being relatively harmless and even charming at times),
although the passion with which the comment was delivered certainly made it
sounded like exactly the opposite.
Research subsequently showed that the
declaiming Commissioner had actually not said ‘gerbil’ at all but was making a
heavily accented reference in his second language to the European Union – as in
‘The Commissioner is a member of the European Union’ (which may or may not have
been intended as an insult).This insult will not of course be applicable to the
UK going forward (should they ever be able to afford to attend a future meeting).
Anyway, quite how ‘European Union’ turned into ‘Gerbil’ in my ears (and I
should say that they were not alone in hearing the reference to the desert
rodent) is rather a mystery. But this provides an example of how
misunderstandings may occur and it is, of course, important to get these things
right. Anyway, please allow for tired ears and related matters and don’t
hesitate to correct me!
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| Portoroz |
Moving to the 66th meeting of the International Whaling Commission:
where are we and what are we doing?
Well, we are returned to lovely Slovenia because the love affair between
this country and the IWC continues. The IWC Scientific Committee has met in in
the Slovenia lakeside town of Bled twice in recent years (it is always wise to
keep tipsy scientists away from the sea – there were enough issues with the
large lake) and the Commission meeting and its preceding sub-committees have
now returned to Portoroz-Piran. These two towns are nestled side by side at the
northern apex of the Adriatic. Out of the window I can see the sea and to my
left (east) Croatia and to my right (west) Italy. This small Slovenian section of
coast– sandwiched between the more extensive coastal holdings of its neighbours
- is much loved and used. Indeed, battalions
of small yachts have been racing each other across a calm sea over the whole
weekend whilst battalions of small (and larger) IWC delegates have been
enjoying various meetings: private commissioners’ meetings (we don’t know what
they do in there because it is private) and no doubt the occasional EU
coordination meeting and coordinations around some of the big topics. More of
this below.
We are meeting again in a hotel that is big and Grand. I know it is Grand
because that is what it is called – The Grand Bernardin, (aka the Big Berni).
Its dozen or so floors spew down the cliff face – each room facing the sea (I
assume none have a view of the rock face) like huge cells in the nest of some
giant insect. It’s a slanty structure
with a big pillbox on top of it. Who was
the architect of this building and what was he/she imbibing for inspiration? But I digress.
The reception area (or lobby, for my American readers) is well known to me.
The seats and sofas have not moved in two years, the café terrace and narrow
lifts that threaten to change the course of history (more of this later) are
all pretty much as we left them.
Here is a summary of the main issues for the coming days (in no particular
order):
- · Will the commission accept the importance of whale poo to its deliberations and move to celebrate faecal plumes as the best thing ever:
- · What will we decide about special permit/scientific whaling;
- · Will the wifi hold up in the meeting halls to facilitate a paper-less meeting or will delegates be unable to update their Facebook status;
- · will the Whatsapp app cause further devaluation of the pound;
- · Will the lifts prove capable to the job and how many times will delegates with widely differing views be squashed together in a confined space and will this help build consensus;
- · Will there be anywhere sensible to find a quick lunch (actually as we have been here before, I am fairly certain – unless the IWC secretariat has set up a new catering venture – that the answer is no);
- · How will the proposal for a South Atlantic Sanctuary fare this time;
- · Will anyone mention the ongoing whaling by Norway and Iceland;
- · Will the imperilled nature of the vaquita and the Mauis dolphin get air time;
- · Will any nation walk out (we have not had a good walk-out for a few years and they always helped to provide some drama to the proceedings);
- · Will any NGOs walk out and would anyone care if they did, or even miss them;
- · Will remaining NGOs successfully make relevant interventions on specific topics as they come up on the agenda;
- · Does anyone care about the hundreds of thousands of cetaceans being cruelly killed in fishing nets;
- · Does anyone care about all the stranded cetaceans;
- · Does anyone care what the IWC Scientific Committee did over the last couple of years;
- · Has the UK Commissioner brought his meerkat; and
- · How many mentions of faecal plumes will there be?
So as you can see,
there is a lot on the agenda; and it is all highly complicated. You can
find another introduction to matters at the IWC here in blob that I wrote for
the Huffington Post HERE.
So here we go and – “may
the faecal plumes be with you.”
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| Piran |
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| Piran central square |
Many small boats with the Croatian shore in the background -
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