The recent draft “Peace Plan”, developed by a group of 12 member countries of the International Whaling Commission, for sanction and approval at its next meeting in June in Morocco, should be supported as a “realistic compromise”, says South Africa’s doyen of whale and dolphin conservation, Nan Rice, of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, reports the Cape Argus.

Rice was commenting on the draft plan to allow controlled commercial whaling for the next ten years, as it would reduce the number of whales that Japan, Norway and Iceland would kill collectively, compared to the current ruling, which allows these countries to kill whales for “scientific purposes”.   She did state, however, that as long as whaling countries can make money out of whaling, it would be impossible to stop them from killing whales completely.

Greenpeace, an international environmental activist group, has criticised the peace plan, saying that it is not strict enough, and does not indicate any attempt to ultimately stop whaling in the whale sanctuary, and it still allows the fin whale, an endangered species, to be killed.   Restricted commercial whaling would allow the Japanese to sell whale meat for human consumption in Japan.

However, the “Peace Plan” includes a proposal for a Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, scrapping the ‘scientific’ whaling loophole used by the Japanese in the main, the reduction in the number of whales caught in the ten year period, and a restructuring of the Commission, all of which are positive aspects, according to Greenpeace.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com