Maori fisheries representative contributes to whaling solutions
Te Ohu Kaimoana will contribute ideas and recommendations to a special adviser to the International Whaling Commission on ways in which it believes can secure the future of the organisation.
In March this year, Te Ohu Kaimoana deputy chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana and chief executive Peter Douglas attended a special meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) held in London to look at the organisation's future.
The meeting was called to find ways of overcoming significant differences among the contracting parties to the IWC, to which New Zealand is a party. Differences over whaling have led to an impasse in negotiations over development of a commercial whaling regime.
“It's a fact that the Whaling Commission is close to collapse because members of the organisation, such as Japan, believe the IWC is no longer working in members' interests and they are looking to leave,” Peter says. “This would be a terrible blow, so the Chairman of the IWC is looking at ways to resolve differences among parties.”
Te Ohu Kaimoana has urged the New Zealand Government to find a compromise solution to the whaling debate and use its influence and leadership at the IWC to broker an agreement that keeps the organisation intact. It could mean agreeing to some commercial whaling.
A major impediment to resolving difficult problems in the IWC is that only about half a dozen of the Commission's 78 member countries are actively engaged in whale hunting. Japan, New Zealand and other members of the IWC have helped develop a management regime, but this has not been completed. “There's been little or no incentive for non-whaling countries to agree to implement any management regime for whale hunting and this has led Iceland and Norway to conduct whaling outside of IWC control,” Peter says.
The IWC Chairman, Dr William Hogarth of the United States, sought the assistance of Professor Calestous Juma from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University to act as a special adviser. Te Ohu Kaimoana has contributed a paper to Professor Juma's work.
“Opposing sides need to demonstrate compromise for the IWC to last into the future. It's a choice the international community needs to make. The positions taken by many parties has polarised the debate, put the future of the IWC in jeopardy and this serves neither the interests of whale conservation nor management.”
“Our belief is that that the ‘whaling versus no-whaling' conflict must be overcome for the IWC to maintain relevance to the international community.”
Peter said that Te Ohu Kaimoana agreed with Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick that all efforts must be made to keep Japan at the negotiating table. “The IWC has a future, but it is one that will involve compromise by all parties involved, including New Zealand.”
At Hui-a-Iwi in 1997 and 1999, Te Ohu Kaimoana was mandated to monitor local and international developments that affect or impact on the customary and traditional rights of hapu and iwi as they apply to the management and sustainable utilisation of marine mammals. Representatives of Te Ohu Kaimoana have attended the IWC meetings in 2006 in St Kitts and Nevis; 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska, USA, and the Intersessional Meeting at Heathrow, London, United Kingdom.
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Tiakina ngā rawa hi ika, a tātou kaimoana mo ngā uri whakaheke
Protecting Māori fisheries assets for future generations