Bob Brown slams whaling forum walk-out

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has taken pro-whaling nations to task for walking out of a global forum to block a vote on the creation of a new sanctuary.

"It's a terrible outcome," he said of the 63rd annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission which ended in predictable disarray after four days of acrimony.

Senator Brown singled out Japan and Iceland for special mention, saying they and a few other nations effectively had blocked the "bloody killing" of whales in the South Atlantic.

"The whole of the world really wants to see an end to the destruction of the great whale," he said.
The deep-seated divide that pulls the IWC apart surfaced again when Japan led a walk-out of pro-whaling nations to ensure that a vote to create a sanctuary in the South Atlantic - spearheaded by Brazil and Argentina - would fail to muster the necessary quorum.

There are two such whale havens, one in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and the other in the Indian Ocean.

Japan carries out an annual hunt during the southern hemisphere summer in Antarctic waters and said this week it planned to return next season despite vows from anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd to disrupt the hunt.

The head of Monaco's delegation, Frederic Briand, was scathing in his assessment of the annual meeting.

"You can only conclude that this commission - which, despite a moratorium, does not have a mandate to stop the large-scale hunting still going on - is genuinely dysfunctional," he said.
"Since the moratorium was put in place in 1986, more than 33,000 whales have been killed," he told AFP as the 89-nation body adjourned for another year.

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