Humane Society International

WASHINGTON (June 20, 2006) -- The 58 th session of the International Whaling Commission ended today with a swing in the simple majority of votes to pro-whalers, a call to return to the whaling days of 1946, and a serious indication that holding onto the commercial whaling moratorium is becoming more of a struggle.

In summing up the week, Patricia Forkan, president of Humane Society International, said, "We are now at the point where each vote at the IWC is critical to the welfare of whales. The message is clear: the public around the world must tell its governments to save the whales. Time is running out."

Overall, conservation countries won four out of five of the key votes, including beating back a Japanese led effort to institute a secret ballot system by a vote of 30:33 with 1 abstention. But later in the week-end, when all Japan's supporters had shown up, including Togo paying for its membership in cash, the ground began to shift.

The "St Kitts and Nevis Declaration" passed by a slim majority of 33:32 with 1 abstention, claiming the "commercial whaling moratorium is no longer necessary." It also perpetuates the myth that whales eat too many fish and sternly warns of the dangers of non-governmental organizations with "self interest campaigns."

Passage of the declaration inflamed conservations countries, with Brazil arguing the document was not a valid resolution and then disassociating itself from the entire text, as did Australia, New Zealand, UK, Monaco, Spain and many others.

Denmark, which cast the decisive vote in favor of Japan, received a flood of phone calls and emails from an outraged public around the globe.

In other activities at the IWC:


* Debate over pro-whaling faction's claim to "normalize" the IWC - a return to the dark days of whaling of the IWC - while others in the debate sought to emphasize the conservation component of the treaty and the need for its "modernization."
* An annual attempt to gut the Southern Ocean Sanctuary was once again defeated, though its margin of safety in votes is starting to decline with the ranks of pro-whaling countries swollen by Japan's recruitment campaign.
* A narrowing defeat of Japan's yearly request for whales for its coastal communities, another ruse for commercial whaling.


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Humane Society International is the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, more than 9.5 million members and constituents. The non-profit organization is based in Washington and has numerous field representatives across the country and throughout the world.