ON WORLD CUPS, WHALING AND WAFFLE


In the week when Mohamed bin Hamman was banned from football for life by FIFA (as tempting a mnemonic as ever there was…) for various and sundry skulduggeries, we learn that the International Whaling Commission’s 2011 forum ended in a walk-out by the pro-whaling nations.


In one body, a guy flies around buying votes and in the other, a guy flies around buying votes. Or more accurately, threatening to deny aid. Allegedly, that is. This is so that the Japanese can continue with an essential and ongoing study of whales which requires that hundreds are hunted and slaughtered each year.


When one considers that Eritrea is a member of the Commission, as are Togo, Benin, the Congo and land- locked Mali – you can see how a nation such as Japan could get quite a few votes together. If they had a mind to, that is.


Now you might think that a walk-out is the kind of action a responsible delegation might take if something absolutely fundamental was being proposed – such as an end to the shabby and transparent pretence of ‘scientific purposes’, or even a ban on all commercial whaling. Not a bit of it.


They walked out in a no-doubt pre-agreed huff because of a proposal for a new sanctuary in the South Atlantic put forward by Brazil and Argentina. OK, said they. We can’t stop you whaling, but can we at least have another area where they can be left in peace to breed? After all – it means more whales for your scientific study.


There’s another whale sanctuary in the Antarctic, but the Japanese take no notice of it whatsoever, so the hypocrisy involved is breathtaking.


But there is some good news.


The Japanese public are waking up to the fact that their government and authorities are somewhat less than perfect, and even capable of misleading them. When polled on the subject of whaling in the sanctuary and the fact that their tax Yen was subsidising it, the majority said they didn’t support it and 26% thought Japan should stop whaling altogether. Whalemeat sales have fallen by over 30% over the year to January 2011, according to Greenpeace who exposed corruption in the industry resulting in public apologies and ‘disciplinary action’. As contestants in ‘Endurance’, perhaps?


|34| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE


EU Maritime and Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damaniki, said “I want to decentralise... the choice of instrument, or instruments’ mix, is up to member states, co-operating at regional level”


I’m buggered if we know how to sort this out, so we’ll simply hand it back and they can get on with it themselves.


Meanwhile of course, the fish stocks continue to decline. steve@stephenmgrant.com


Then, not too far from the IWC’s meeting in Guernsey, the European Commission (I’m developing a deep- seated mistrust of that word) had a superb opportunity to sort out the fish stocks of European waters. There was broad support for change, widespread condemnation of ‘discarding’ conditions were reasonably fair for Europe to set a whole new course. So did they? Not a bit of it.


Well – OK – perhaps a bit of it, and there is some good news in that they have at last acknowledged the issue.


Discarding will be ‘phased out’. Not stopped, or banned, outlawed, discontinued or otherwise ceased, but ‘phased out’. The proposals are to ensure catches are within levels that can produce the ‘maximum sustainable yields’ by 2015. Note the language used – not within levels that will protect the species in the long term, but which ‘will produce the maximum sustainable yields’. (Think about it – because they certainly have.) I shall endeavour to translate…


‘Implement an ‘eco-system based approach’ to limit the impact of fishing.’


We agree that we need to limit the impact of fishing, so we shall set up a body –no doubt a ‘commission’ - to look at ways whereby we might develop, in the fullness of time and with full consultation, an eco-system based approach.


Reduce fleet overcapacity through market measures rather than subsidies. We will do nothing at all to reduce the fleet overcapacity which we have encouraged over the last 28 years.


Develop alternative types of fish management techniques. I have no idea what that means. Suggestions by email, please.


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