Conserve tuna: Stop Whaling!

Source: The National, Tuesday 14 June 2005

Editorial

Difficult to understand the logic

IT is indeed difficult to understand the logic behind Japan's decision to attempt to double its slaughter of whales in our region.
The Japanese cannot seriously believe that the rest of the world subscribes to their announced claim that the increase is for "scientific purposes."
Precisely what kind of "scientific" research is served by the wholesale destruction of an already diminishing maritime species?
The predilection of some Asian nations for whale meat, and the use of whale carcasses for the production of perfumes, oils, and a host of other associated products, points less to science than most emphatically to commerce.
Japan cannot be unaware of the opposition throughout this region to its proposals.
That makes the apparent obduracy of their intentions even less comprehensible.
Japan has gone to great lengths to turn the nations of the South Pacific into trading partners, and markets for its huge manufacturing and automotive industries.
They appear either not to understand the depth of feeling the preservation of whales engenders in this region, or to be determined to ignore that widespread revulsion.
It would be a different matter if whales were the main source of food for an impoverished Japan.
The necessity to secure food supplies would provide one of the more acceptable reasons for killing whales.
But that, of course, is not the case.
For all that Japan may be passing through an economic downturn, it remains one of the most successful nations to emerge after the massive destruction of WWII.
The reality is clearly that whale hunting and slaughter represents nothing more than a desire to increase commerce and rake in yet more money from a natural marine resource.
The importance of those resources to the South Pacific nations can scarcely be underestimated.
Our seas teem with marine life, and there is a solid -- if sometimes slow - thrust to make sure that those products become, and remain, a renewable and sustainable resource.
To that end, the island nations and territories of the South Pacific have instituted many seasonal restrictions against over-fishing and the wholesale slaughter of many marine species by bottom of the sea trawling and other undesirable fishing practices.
There are two distinct reasons for this region's concerns.
Both are in the long run, economic.
Our fish supplies, and the livelihood that comes from prawns, lobsters and other maritime species, are not the cream on the South Pacific's coffee.
They are our lifeline, the very source of income upon which many of our island states are greatly dependent.
The second reason is the environment.
Surely this region has suffered enough at the hands of rapacious fleets of foreign vessels determined to flout our regulations, and those of our neighbours.
Scarcely a month goes by but we are confronted by illegal fishing vessels apprehended in our waters.
We see no reason why PNG should have its maritime environment ruined by foreigners.
This is our own precious resource, and it should be nurtured and strengthened for ourselves, and for the burgeoning populations of our island homes.
An aspect of this environmental protection is tourism - not the slash and burn tourism so familiar in many Asian countries, and throughout many more in the West, but eco-tourism that not only takes into account the wonders of our environment, but builds on them to create and develop a sustainable tourism industry.
Whales, and the ability of tourists to see these giant friendly creatures closely, are an integral part of attracting visitors to our waters.
Along our north coasts, from the top of the Morobe province right across to the Indonesian border, passing pods of whales and schools of dolphins are a common and much admired sight.
Should the Japanese proposals be allowed to go ahead, that sight will be no more.
Already, unacceptable fishing habits practiced by pirate fishing vessels in our waters, have led to the deaths of hundreds of dolphins snared in fishing nets designed to scour the waters.
Such nets waste far more marine life than they catch for commercial use.
The South Pacific should speak with one voice over this issue.
The resumption of commercial whaling - for that is what the Japanese initiative represents - must not be allowed to take place in our waters.