さあ！諸君！捕鯨問題だ！

http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/sci_com/SCRepFiles2005/AnnexOsq.pdf

Earlier this year the Government of Japan concluded an 18-year program of whaling under special permit in Antarctic waters (the JARPA program). During the years of its operation, JARPA killed more than 6,800 minke whales (almost all Balaenoptera bonaerensis). Because the data collection of JARPA ended in early 2005, the results of that program cannot be reviewed by the Scientific Committee (SC) until 2006 or 2007, and JARPA has published very little in the international peer-reviewed literature with which to judge the quality of its research and its relevance to the management of whales by IWC. Despite this, Japan now proposes a second phase of special permit whaling (JARPA II) to commence during the austral summer of 2005/06 which will more than double the annual catch of minke whales and also take 50 fin (B. physalus) and 50 humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) each year. Furthermore, the proposal indicates that Japan intends to abandon the accepted IWC method of managing whale stocks, the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), in favor of a speculative approach which essentially proposes that selected culling be conducted in order to promote recovery of depleted large whales, (e.g. blue whales).

With the new proposal Japan will increase its annual take of whales under special permit to a level where, in each year, it will take almost half the number of all whales ever taken under special permit by all other nations combined. These levels are also approaching the annual commercial quotas for Antarctic minke whales that were in place prior to the moratorium. This is clearly far beyond the intention envisaged when Article 8 of the Convention was developed, and means that the Scientific Committee has a serious responsibility to ensure that any current and proposed programs for special permit whaling are reviewed in a transparent and thorough scientific manner that can stand the scrutiny of the international scientific community. Such levels of take should also be subject to the same regulatory measures as commercial whaling, i.e. the full RMP process.

First and foremost, it is scientifically invalid to review the JARPA II proposal before the IWC has had a chance to conduct a full review of the results of the original 18 year JARPA program. If JARPA II goes forward, it will have already been in operation for two years (and will have taken almost 2000 whales) before this review can be conducted, and without such an in-depth review the SC cannot make a meaningful assessment of the relevance of the proposed research, or the need for the proposed catches.

By bringing this proposal forward at this time the Government of Japan has substantially compromised the capacity of the Scientific Committee to perform its task as designated by the Commission in its ‘Guidelines for the Review of Scientific Permit Proposals’ (Donovan, 2001) and puts at stake the capacity of the SC to provide objective and representative scientific advice to the Commission.

Consequently, we 63 scientists, (including representatives from 16 national delegations and 16 other participants), attending the IWC SC/57 meeting feel unable to engage in a scientifically defensible process of review of the JARPA II proposal. To do so would substantially undermine the scientific credibility of this organization. Instead we submit the following brief comments on serious concerns and issues that are raised by the proposal, and we feel that this proposal can be addressed by the SC only when the JARPA review is complete. Our comments are structured in accordance with the Commission’s guidelines.