As Whales Alive! goes to press, the whale conservation community is gearing up for what promises to be one of the toughest battles in decades in the fight to save whales from commercial hunting. From April 10th through the 20th, government representatives from nearly 150 countries will be meeting in Nairobi, Kenya to address issues revolving around trade in wildlife products, during the 11th Conference of the Parties to CITES, the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna. Among the many topics slated to be discussed are proposals by Japan and Norway to downlist (that is, to remove from complete protection) certain species and stocks of whales.

In spite of the International Whaling Commission's (IWC's) supposed ban on commercial whale hunting, Norway and Japan continue to hunt more than 1,000 minke whales each year. Japan's hunt is based on scientific whaling, and focuses on minke whales in both the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean. The latter hunt is particularly egregious in that it occurs in the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Japan was the only IWC nation to vote against the Sanctuary during the Commission's 1994 Annual Meeting. Norway's hunt is a commercial one, based on that country's objection to the moratorium.

CITES, in recognition of the IWC's attempts to save the last remaining whale stocks from the threat of extinction, opted to support the conservation policies of the IWC by placing a total ban on international trade in whale products. Japan and Norway have repeatedly tried to attack this ban, failing in their attempts in both 1994 and 1997. However, at this upcoming meeting in Nairobi, it is clear that both whaling nations have mounted an unprecedented campaign to get minke whales and gray whales removed from their CITES Appendix 1 listing, and to place them in a category that would lead to resumed trade in whale meat and products.

In addition to proposals 11.15 through 11.18, in which Norway and Japan call on CITES nations to downlist the Eastern North pacific gray whale, the Southern hemisphere minke whale, the North Pacific /Okhotsk Sea stock of minke whale and the Northeast and central Atlantic stocks of minke whales, the two nations have set out to attack the historic relationship between CITES and IWC, in which CITES cedes to the Whaling Commission management authority for whales. Fortunately, the U.S. government has countered with a proposal of its own, calling on nations to "reaffirm the synergy" between CITES and IWC.

Among the many spurious arguments being used by the whaling nations to justify both a resumption of large scale commercial whaling and international trade in whale products is a claim that whales must be killed because they are eating fish... thus damaging commercial and artisanal fisheries. The United States has countered these claims with a carefully peer-reviewed and scientifically based study of the actual affects of whales on fish stocks. This study shows that whales affect different levels of the food chain, and tend to target non-commercial fish species. Overfishing by humans is more a cause of concern for depleted fish stocks than cetaceans. If anyone is interested in receiving a copy of the U.S. paper, they can contact CSI.

In addition, both Norway and Japan claim in their proposals to downlist the whales that environmental change in whale habitat has been minimal. Obviously with our heightened awareness of global warming and increasing concerns over escalating levels of pollution, such claims are simplistic. Whales face a wide array of threats to their environment, and indeed, in recognition of this fact, the IWC has formed a Working Group to study the effects of environmental threats on whale populations.

The Nairobi meeting promises to be a tough one, and it is clear that this will be a watershed moment in whale conservation. If international trade in whale products is allowed to resume - especially given that the IWC has not been able to implement a strict regime of enforcement and control of the whaling industry due to Japan and Norway's reluctance to agree to any international oversight of their whaling activities - the future for whales will be grim.