Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists. The destiny of the world's fragile whale populations will be on the line beginning Monday when the International Whaling Commission opens its 52nd annual meeting in Adelaide, Australia. At a press conference hosted Wednesday by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, conservationists questioned how much power the commission has to protect whales from commercial trade.
Japan has a quarter block over the minority on most issues.
That creates an uphill hurdle when it comes to increasing or decreasing protection for whales. An association of more than 200 members from 40 nations, the IWC was formed under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling on Dec. 2, 1946. In its role as the international authority for the conservation of whales and management of whaling, the commission banned commercial whaling in 1986. Several environmental groups, including the IFAW and the Worldwide Fund for Nature, suggest that Japan has used foreign aid to encourage developing nations to join the IWC and vote in the country's favor. Recent inductees to the commission include St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica.