Word: iwc
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...began in the 1600s and became industrialized in the 19th century, had already sent many species into serious decline. Environmental groups, fearing that the whales would become extinct, lobbied hard to bring the hunting and killing to a halt. In 1986 they came very close: the International Whaling Commission (IWC) voted to prohibit whaling, allowing it only for scientific purposes or, in a handful of cases, such as among native peoples in Alaska and Greenland, to preserve ancient food-gathering practices...
...Norway, in particular, have slaughtered tens of thousands of whales in the past 20 years. The first two countries claim they are doing it for science, although much of the meat they take ends up on dinner tables. Norway doesn't even bother pretending. It openly flouts the IWC's rules...
...Japan has upped the ante: at the annual meeting of the IWC last week in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Japanese pushed through a resolution calling for a repeal of the whaling moratorium, declaring it "no longer necessary...
Fortunately for the whales, the resolution isn't binding. The vote was 33 to 32 in favor, but it would have taken a 75% majority to overturn the ban. For whaling opponents, however, the vote was an ominous sign of Japan's power over the IWC--and of its willingness to use strong-arm tactics and not-so-subtle bribery to get its way. Japan has reportedly showered more than $100 million in aid in recent years on island nations that it has persuaded to back its pro-whaling positions...
...Japan has been doling out aid to developing members of the IWC, such as the Pacific islands of Nauru and Tuvalu, to line up support ahead of the annual meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis this June. "If the pro-whaling forces succeed in achieving a simple majority this year," says Australia's Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, who locked horns with Japanese delegates last year, "it'll set back the cause of conservation." For one thing, Japan will be able to put an end to those pesky condemnations of its scientific quota. Ending the moratorium, however, would require the support...