OMEN
06-17-2006, 09:17 AM
http://network.news.com.au/image/0,10114,5170635,00.jpg
Battle ... protesters and whalers tangle at sea
GREENPEACE said it would return to the Southern Ocean later this year in an attempt to have Japan cease all whaling. The group, like other conservationists, was celebrating today after Japan failed to secure enough votes on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to institute secret balloting and bar members from discussing protection for smaller cetaceans such as porpoises.
The proposal to introduce secret balloting failed by 33 votes to 30 while the motion on porpoises, which some conservation groups consider endangered, was also narrowly defeated – by 32 votes to 30 with one abstention.
Both items were considered key to Japan's attempt to establish a pro-whaling majority on the commission for the first time since a moratorium on commercial whaling came into force two decades ago.
Greenpeace campaigns manager Danny Kennedy said he was surprised by the result.
But he said this was no time for complacency and the federal Government should pressure Japan to give up whaling for so-called scientific purposes.
"We're very happy with the outcome overnight, obliviously it is a setback to the pro-whaling push to try to hijack the agenda of the IWC," Mr Kennedy said today.
"But we also don't want for complacency, we can't sit back now and say that's enough, we need the Australian Government to take on more action."
Mr Kennedy said Greenpeace would be going back to the Southern Ocean on board its vessel the Arctic Sunrise to meet Japanese whalers to peacefully protest at the end of the year.
"For Greenpeace we're committed to going back into the Southern Ocean and challenging them on the water because they will still be able to increase their hunt under the scientific loophole."
Humane Society International warned that conservation countries only narrowly retained the simple majority at the IWC.
"It isn't business as usual here, each vote has been too close to call," Society spokeswoman Nicola Beynon said.
"This should be a wake-up call to the public worldwide. Saving the whales is an hour-to-hour struggle at the IWC."
AAP
Battle ... protesters and whalers tangle at sea
GREENPEACE said it would return to the Southern Ocean later this year in an attempt to have Japan cease all whaling. The group, like other conservationists, was celebrating today after Japan failed to secure enough votes on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to institute secret balloting and bar members from discussing protection for smaller cetaceans such as porpoises.
The proposal to introduce secret balloting failed by 33 votes to 30 while the motion on porpoises, which some conservation groups consider endangered, was also narrowly defeated – by 32 votes to 30 with one abstention.
Both items were considered key to Japan's attempt to establish a pro-whaling majority on the commission for the first time since a moratorium on commercial whaling came into force two decades ago.
Greenpeace campaigns manager Danny Kennedy said he was surprised by the result.
But he said this was no time for complacency and the federal Government should pressure Japan to give up whaling for so-called scientific purposes.
"We're very happy with the outcome overnight, obliviously it is a setback to the pro-whaling push to try to hijack the agenda of the IWC," Mr Kennedy said today.
"But we also don't want for complacency, we can't sit back now and say that's enough, we need the Australian Government to take on more action."
Mr Kennedy said Greenpeace would be going back to the Southern Ocean on board its vessel the Arctic Sunrise to meet Japanese whalers to peacefully protest at the end of the year.
"For Greenpeace we're committed to going back into the Southern Ocean and challenging them on the water because they will still be able to increase their hunt under the scientific loophole."
Humane Society International warned that conservation countries only narrowly retained the simple majority at the IWC.
"It isn't business as usual here, each vote has been too close to call," Society spokeswoman Nicola Beynon said.
"This should be a wake-up call to the public worldwide. Saving the whales is an hour-to-hour struggle at the IWC."
AAP