Business v Environment

Whaling
Definition: the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil, sometimes for their ivory-like
teeth. About 1,500 whales are killed each year by Japan, Norway and Iceland – the 3
biggest whaling nations.

Key Parties

International Whaling Commission: an international body set up by the terms of

the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) “to provide for the proper
conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling
industry”. In 1982, members of the IWC voted to put a ban on commercial whaling.

In June 2010, the 88 nations of the IWC held two days of closed-door talks in Morocco on a
proposal to phase out the Antarctic whale hunt in return for a resumption of limited
commercial whaling. The talks failed.

Japan: under IWC moratorium, is permitted to catch just under 1000 whales for scientific
research. Slaughters about 950 mostly non-endangered minke whales every year, but critics
say it’s commercial whaling in disguise, since meat is sold on the open market. Regardless,
IWC regulations require that whale meat obtained by scientific whaling not go to waste.
Prime meat fetches ¥20,000 (about £148) a kilo when sold legally.

In May 2010, Australia launched legal case at the International Court of Justice that Japan’s
annual whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is in violation of the international ban on
commercial whaling. Despite Japan being Australia's second biggest trading partner.

Japan is also accused of using aid to sway votes in the June talks and paying flight and hotel
bill of IWC chairman Anthony Liverpool.

Iceland: Iceland did not object to the 1986 IWC moratorium but left in 1991 when IWC
refused its recommendation for sustainable whaling. It rejoined the IWC in 2002 with a
reservation to the moratorium, practices commercial whaling.

Previously, Iceland had a quota of 30 and it caught less than 10 each year. Its quota was
increased in 2008. Consequently, it caught 125 fin whales in 2009 and 148 this year.
Icelandic authorities say there are sufficient whales in its waters to increase the quota to up
to 200 each year. Studies show between 20,000 and 70,000 whales in the North Atlantic,
according to varying estimates.

Norway: formally objects to the moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Commercial whaling
ceased for five years to allow a small scientific catch for gauging the stock's sustainability
and resumed in 1993. Catches of minke whales fluctuated between 487 animals in 2000 to
592 in 2007 and made solely from the Northeast Atlantic population, estimated at 102,000.
 Bluefin Tuna

Background: spawning stocks of Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (bft) - the kind caught in the
Mediterranean - are widely estimated to be down by 75% in the last four decades, and some
scientists believe they might be on the verge of collapse.

Cut quotas: in November, fishing nations via the International Commission for the
Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) agreed to cut bft quotas from 135000 to 12900
tonnes in 2011. ICCAT scientists say there is a 60% chance that bft stocks can be stabilised
at an annual catch of less than 13,500. Conservationists state the bft is threatened by
overfishing, and much deeper cuts are needed.

Bluefin Tuna Catch Document (BCD): a paper-based system of tracking tuna introduced in
2008. In theory, the BCD enables ranches and exporting countries to prove their catch is
legal and within quotas.

However, analysis by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative

Journalists (ICIJ) shows discrepancies:

- Most tuna is caught at sea by ‘purse seine fishermen’ (who catch huge agglomerations
of bluefin as they come together for spawning) and taken to live in ranches where
fattened. ICIJ found entries where more tuna were apparently leaving ranches rather
than entering them – and it cannot be explained by breeding.
- 80% of all of the purse seine catches are missing something: it doesn't have a country
or any kind of import information that would prove the fish was legal.

- Calculations show more than 1 in 3 bft caught in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean
between 1998 and 2007 was fished illegally. This gave rise to an off-the-books trade in
bft – conservatively valued at $4 billion.

Consequently, Japan refused to accept thousands of tonnes of Atlantic bft, alleging suppliers
cannot demonstrate its legality. Japan consumes about 80% of the global bft supply.

Quote: Mitsubishi group controls most of bft trade in Japan (and reportedly has enough bft
in its freezers to survive a year or two without new meat arriving), stated:

"[We acknowledge] that the BFT stocks in the Mediterranean are over-fished...we
support and urge that, as a minimum, scientific recommendations are strictly followed
in the management of tuna populations...

Reputational damage: Supermarket giant Carrefour, sandwich chain Pret a Manger and
London's Olympic Committee are among the signatories to the Tuna Market Manifesto set
up by WWF. They pledged to play no part in the marketing of bluefin "until the fishery is
sustainably managed”. The desire by a number of companies to stand apart from a trade
that could lead to the commercial extinction of a flagship species arose from the blatant
disregard of fishermen – aided and abetted by their national authorities.

Quote: published in ICIJ report, French captain, Roger del Ponte, told reporters:

“Everyone cheated... there were rules, but we didn’t follow them. It’s like driving down
the road. If I know there are no police, I’m going to speed..."