WHALING: Whalers should strive to limit the suffering of the giant sea mammals they kill, the International Whaling Commission said yesterday, in a resolution hailed as a victory for animal welfare.
In the third day of talks that whaling nations hope will pave the way to end an 18-year-old ban on commercial whaling, the anti-whalers showed they were still in the majority when the intergovernmental body passed the motion by a 29-22 vote.
"Current whaling methods do not guarantee death without pain, stress or distress," said the resolution, which could lead to new killing standards aimed at reducing the time whales live after being harpooned.
Campaign groups say the average time until death is two minutes, with some whales surviving for hours after being hit by grenade-loaded harpoons, the usual hunting method.
"This is a real victory for whale welfare," said Mr Peter Davies of Whalewatch, a coalition of lobby groups. "We are delighted that the IWC has agreed that cruelty can no longer be tolerated and that committed action should be taken to stop it."
Japan, Norway and Iceland, which kill some 1,400 whales a year despite the ban, voted against the motion. They argued that whaling is not excessively cruel and that the IWC should concentrate on conservation rather than animal welfare.
New Zealand Conservation Minister Mr Chris Carter, who proposed the motion, said he wanted to end all whaling, but while it continued, the IWC should strive to make it less cruel.
"I certainly would like to see no whales being killed anywhere in the world," he said. "But I accept the reality of whaling and so let's at least try to do it more humanely."
While whaling nations lost the battle on animal welfare, they hope to win a more important one before the end of the IWC's annual meeting today - one they hope will lead to the end of the whaling ban in place since 1986.
Delegates must decide whether to push ahead with a draft system for monitoring adherence to any future quotas.
Pro-whalers say some whale species are now abundant and would not risk extinction under a sustainable and well-monitored quota system, making the ban unnecessary.
That view is fiercely opposed by hardline anti-whalers such as New Zealand, Australia and Britain, which say lifting the ban should only be considered after a sound whaling management system is in place.
The system itself is unlikely to be agreed this week, as that would require a 75 per cent majority. The IWC's Danish chairman, Mr Henrik Fischer, hopes delegates agree to work towards a final deal at the body's next meeting in Pusan, South Korea, next year.
The talks were slowed down by a row between Japan and a campaign group which accused it of "vote-buying" by enticing developing countries to join the IWC and support its position.
Whaling commissioners met in several closed-door sessions to discuss possible sanctions against the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which made the allegation.
Four of the six new members joining this year - Tuvalu, Mauritania, Ivory Coast and Surinam - have voted in line with Japan's position. Japan denied any impropriety but says it does help those countries and many others with development aid.