Earth Island News International Marine Mammal Project 2004
International Whaling Commission This years International
Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Sorrento, Italy, brought the
long-simmering issue of vote-buying to a boil. Japan in
particular has provided millions of dollars in overseas
fisheries aid to many small countries in exchange for these
nations support of Japans pro-whaling position at the IWC. The
2004 IWC meeting was marked by a major global spotlight on this
practice of trading votes for Japanese aid. A number of small
countries have joined the Japanese and Norwegian delegations in
voting for increased whaling and against whale conservation
measures in the IWC, including Antigua and Barbuda, Belize,
Benin, Cote dIvoire, Dominica, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea,
Mauritania, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, Solomon Islands,
St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
and Tuvalu. Several nations at the IWC this year hotly denied
the charge of vote-buying, but the practice is well