- Title: GERMANY: OPENING OF THE DEEPLY DIVIDED INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION (TWC)
- Date: 17th June 2003
- Summary: (W5) BERLIN, GERMANY (JUNE 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV WWF PLACARD OUTSIDE VENUE; MV PEOPLE HOLDING UP CARDBOARD WHALE CAUGHT IN NET 0.12 2. MV RENATE KUENAST, GERMAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER, SYMBOLICALLY FREEING CARDBOARD WHALE BY CUTTING NET WITH OVERSIZED SCISSORS (2 SHOTS) 0.27 3. SOUNDBITE (English) RENATE KUENAST, GERMAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER SAYING "The best way to use whales is to watch them with glasses (binoculars). I think it would be right to have a resolution here which shows that looking at them, doing tourism with whales, protecting whales does make more sense than using them. I especially think that you can earn more money by this than you can earn or save by killing the whale." 0.54 4. MV KUENAST TALKING TO REPORTERS 0.57 (W5) (FILE) (AT SEA) (HANDOUT) 4. AV WHALE SWIMMING AT SEA 1.03 (W5) (FILE) (HANDOUT) 5. AV WORKERS LOADING HARPOONED WHALE ON BOAT (3 SHOTS) 1.15 (W5)(FILE) (HANDOUT) 6. SCU PREPARATION AND EATING OF WHALE (3 SHOTS) 1.25 (W5) BERLIN, GERMANY (JUNE 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 7. SOUNDBITE (English) SUSAN LIEBERMAN, WORLDWIDE FUND FOR NATURE (WWF) INTERNATIONAL SPECIES PROGRAMME DIRECTOR SAYING "The public is not really aware of what we are trying to do, WWF and others are trying to raise the awareness that they are not saved. There is a moratorium on commercial whaling that was passed in 1986 and Japan is violating it. They are taking hundreds of whales in the southern Ocean sanctuary off Antarctica every year. They are calling it science. It's bogus science." 1.47 8. MV BANNER TILT UP WHALE BALLOON 1.53 9. SCU JOJI MORISHITA NAME TAG 1.55 10. SOUNDBITE (English) JOJI MORISHITA, ADVISOR TO JAPANESE DELEGATION SAYING "Actually the convention that we will see is requiring the by products, that means meat, after the research to be utilised as much as possible. So we are just following the convention. This is common sense because it is essentially saying: do not waste the meat after you get the research. We are taking probably more than one hundred data samples from each animal that we sample. But the rest we just utilise, we do not waste the meat. That's what we are doing and that's a requirement of the convention." 2.29 11. WIDE OF PODIUM, PAN TO DELEGATES; MV JAPANESE DELEGATION LISTENING (3 SHOTS) 2.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVAAOR7N752YBJ4D5XBYD2O10F0E
- Story Text: Germany has opened the annual meeting of the deeply
divided International Whaling Commission (IWC) urging it to
adopt a motion ecology groups say will help preserve whales
and dolphins for future generations.
While members of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) picketed
outside the International Whaling Commission meeting in Berlin
on Monday (June 16, 2003) the German Agriculture Minister
Renate Kuenast symbolically freed a cardboard whale from a net
outside the conference centre.
Surrounded by ecologists and members of the media, Kuenast
said that the 21st century should open new and modern
possibilities with utilisation not by catching but by
watching.
"The best way to use whales is to watch them with glasses
(binoculars). I think it would be right to have a resolution
here which shows that looking at them, doing tourism with
whales, protecting whales does make more sense than using
them. I especially think that you can earn more money by this
than you can earn or save by killing the whale."
"People used to be afraid of nature and of supposed sea
monsters. Nowadays, they are afraid for nature," German
Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast said in an opening
address.
"The public is not really aware and what we are trying to
do, WWF and others are trying to raise the awareness that they
(whales) are not saved. There is a moratorium on commercial
whaling that was passed in 1986 and Japan is violating it.
They are taking
hundreds of whales in the southern Ocean sanctuary off
Antarctica every year. They are calling it science. Its bogus
science."
High on the agenda at the IWC's yearly meeting is a motion
sponsored by 18 members to form a conservation panel -- the
so-called "Berlin Initiative", expected to be debated on
Monday.
However, the IWC is split, with roughly half of its 50
members, such as Japan and Norway, keen to introduce limited
whale catches. The other half, including the United States and
many European Union countries, favour further restrictions.
The IWC has achieved little but stalemate in recent years,
failing to back a series of motions from pro- and anti-whaling
nations. The Berlin Initiative's fate is too close to call.
Conservation groups have hailed the proposal as a way of
securing the future of marine mammals, or cetaceans.
Such a panel could make recommendations about the problems
of cetaceans becoming entangled in nets; toxins in the oceans;
climate change; or the use of sonar, which environmentalists
say threatens whales with extinction.
To highlight their campaign, Greenpeace tied a giant
15-metre inflatable whale from Berlin's landmark TV tower on
Sunday with a banner reading "IWC Act Now".
Japan's view is that the proposal may appear positive,
but ultimately would be the final blow to the polarised IWC,
destroying its purpose to allow controlled whaling.
Its chances of success were boosted by the admittance of
new member Nicaragua, whose commissioner Miguel Marenco
clearly tied his colours to the pro-whaling mast in an address
to delegates.
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