Question: Why would next week’s meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) be closed to the press, the public, and scientists not associated with the commission?

Answer: Because they will be discussing lifting the long-standing ban on commercial whaling and they don’t want anyone to know the real reasons why.

It’s a bold accusation, but several publications covering the event (1 2 3 4) have speculated that there would be no other reason to keep it completely secret unless there were plans to “compromise” for the sake of “science”.  In other words, this meeting is not about whether the mass-slaughtering of whales that diminished many species to near-extinction will resume.

This meeting is about how to spin the news to the public in a way that will minimize the outrage.

“These closed-door meetings pose a grave risk to the future of the IWC and the whales it was established to protect,” said Patrick R. Ramage, Global Whale Program Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) “Whales face more threats today than at any time in history and Americans from sea to shining sea want to see them protected.”

“The last thing we need is a secret deal to re-open whaling. Dr. Hogarth should either open up the process for scrutiny, or simply cancel the meetings.”

Ramage believes that the Bush administration will allow lifting the ban in order to appease Japan.  IWC chairman William Hogarth is a Bush administration appointee.  Ramage says that Hogarth, “should either open up the process for scrutiny, or simply cancel the meetings.”

Despite the ban that has been in place for over 20 years, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have continued to whale.  Norway is not bound by IWC decisions and Japan and Iceland claim that they perform “scientific whaling” rather than “commercial whaling”.

There have been 3 recent challenges to the idea that the whaling is scientific in nature.  Australia and New Zealand have proposed non-lethal methods to conduct the same research as scientists across the globe have denounced the whaling as unnecessary for any valid research.

Twenty-six of the eighty member-nations will be represented at the closed-door meeting September 15-19 at the Trade Winds Resort, St. Pete Beach.  Japan has been posturing for support from many of the members for over 2 decades now, and it is believed that they now have the leverage to have the ban lifted.  If this happens, many experts believe the mass-killings of whales will reach new heights with 21st century technology applied to the lucrative business of commercial whaling.

One thing that is not being discussed openly but is a concern on both sides is the response by activist groups.  There has already been a spike in protests and arrests as some groups have caused severe distuptions in the legal, “scientific” whaling that is already happening.  If the ban is lifted, so too will the tactics used by and the support given to the anti-whaling activists.

“We will not be deterred, we will not retreat and we will never surrender the lives of these defenceless whales to the outlaw whalers from Japan,” said Paul Watson, captain of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship.

More than 30,000 whales have been killed for commercial purposes since 1986.  If the ban is lifted, this number will increase exponentially.

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