Five other Caribbean island nations also voted against against the whale refuge. Australia's environment minister, Robert Hill, blames the six naysaying Caribbean nations for tipping the scales against the sanctuary. For the first time in my memory the island states across the world split at an international forum such as this. The Pacific islands rely on the Caribbean islands and vice versa and in this instance they were let down. An overwhelming majority of South Pacific countries supported the sanctuary.
Japan maintains that the sanctuary had been proposed without sufficient scientific research.
But environmentalists say Japanese aid to those countries bought those votes long before the ballot. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and a 'no' vote on the South Pacific sanctuary was bought and paid for by Japan before this IWC meeting ever began. Martin says, however, that after his country's government decided to abstain from votes at this year's IWC meeting, Japan threatened to withdraw funding for the two additional plants. That, Martin maintains, led the the prime minister, Roosevelt Douglas, to take charge of relations with the IWC himself and ensure that the Dominican delegation sided with Japan. Martin, Mr. Pascal says, is in the pocket of environmental groups who disagree with the stance that whaling is a legitimate industry.