國際捕鯨委員會(International Whaling Commission, IWC)13日結束為期3天的年會，揭示了保育人士認為將危及全球鯨魚族群未來生存的危險改變。
近幾年來，這個由84國政府參與的委員會不斷致力於訂定鉅細靡遺的科學程序，即眾所周知的「修訂管理程序」(Revised Management Procedure)，來確保未來任何商業捕鯨的額度能設定在科學測試程序所能計算出的永續限額內。
3月11日， 在羅馬由半數成員國參與的一個期間會議，委員會同意迴避這套科學程序，並授權一個由成員國組成的工作小組繼續發展重啟商業捕鯨的提案，倚賴五年訂定一次的針對性限額規定，並忽視長期永續性的必要性。
該提案將允許日本在其沿海捕獵鬚鯨，以換取該國縮減其在南極洲附近的南大洋鯨魚禁捕區（Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary）進行所謂的研究性捕鯨行動。
在一個針對日本計畫的回顧中，國際捕鯨委員會的科學委員會認定，儘管數千頭鯨魚遭殺害，日本在2007年並未回答其理應解決的科學問題，例如鯨魚的自然死亡率。國際捕鯨委員會不斷地要求日本結束其毀滅性的「研究」計畫。
來自美國的國際捕鯨委員會主席霍格思(William Hogarth)正領導國際捕鯨委員會朝此方向邁進，試圖解決在捕鯨國家，如日本、挪威、冰島和鯨魚保護國家之間的齪齷和長期爭論。這當中包括了美國、澳洲、紐西蘭、巴西、智利，和其它許多國家。
該工作小組的結論報告將於5月18日前提出。最終目標在2009年6月，由全體成員國在葡萄牙馬德拉島上舉行的年度會議上批准該項提案。
反捕鯨團體已串聯對抗該項提案。來自全球26個保育組織已經要求各國政府反對該項提案。他們說它將中止商業捕鯨活動的禁令。該禁令於1986年實施，讓數個世紀以來因未管制的捕鯨活動而幾近絕跡的多種鯨魚回復生機。
世界動物保護協會(The World Society for the Protection of Animals)已率先提出由各主要反捕鯨團體簽字的簡報，譴責那些保育論者所稱「動物生命的有效交易」的提議。
派船隻前往南大洋干預日本捕鯨船作業的海洋守護協會（Sea Shepherd Conservation Society）譴責所謂「姑息政策提議」，並請歐巴馬總統罷免霍格思作為美國在國際捕鯨委員會的代表。
「美國有不與恐怖分子談判的政策，他們不應與偷獵者談判。 日本捕鯨業是一個犯罪組織，計畫在一個已成立的國際鯨魚禁獵區裡傷害鯨魚。」海洋守護協會創辦人和船長瓦森(Paul Watson)說。
「霍格思的提議如此膽小，甚至不要求終止在南大洋的捕鯨行動而同意繼續這種犯罪行為。如果允許霍格思如此可恥的姑息提案，美國將背叛鯨魚和海洋保育者。」瓦森說。
海洋守護協會（Sea Shepherd Conservation Society）正要求美國司法部針對霍格思進行調查，「看看是否有其他未知的原素鼓動霍格思出賣鯨魚給非法的日本捕鯨業者。」瓦森說。
在2月，眾議院自然資源委員會主席，西維吉尼亞民主黨議員瑞荷（Nick Rahall），寄信給美國商務部代理秘書，要求撤換霍格思，信中提及「在日益高漲的批評中，前布希政府的政治任命正提出廢除當今全球商業捕鯨的禁令。」
2008年6月，眾議院通過一項瑞荷提出的決議，要求美國領袖使用所有合宜的措施結束全球商業捕鯨行為。
歐巴馬政府已採取支持國際捕鯨委員會繼續其捕鯨禁令的立場。
白宮環境品質委員會主席蘇特麗(Nancy Sutley) 3月6日說，「美國持續視商業捕鯨禁令為必要保育手段，並且相信毀滅性的科學捕鯨行為，在現代鯨魚保育管理概念下是不必要的。美國也相當關心近日國際鯨肉貿易活動的重新復甦。」
「行政部門將承諾在國際捕鯨委員會中進行重大議題進一步的討論，包括該組織的未來。直到討論結束前，我們對於各式提議均保留立場。任何可接受的包裹議案，必須在鯨魚保育方面達到顯著改善。」蘇特麗說。「我們承認國際捕鯨委員會面對的一些議題需要更長時間來解決。不過，美國無法接受這些議題最終未能獲得解決的結論。」
在羅馬的會議結束時，澳洲環境部長格瑞特(Peter Garrett)說，澳洲的提議「將使委員會現代化，成為一個實實在在的保育組織，並繼續接受來自全世界的強大支援。」
「委員會的歷史僵局是無法接受的。它是使鯨魚保育退步的原因。在向前發展的精神下，澳洲將繼續傾聽並討論所有觀點，針對商業和所謂「科學」捕鯨採取堅定反對的立場。」格瑞特說。
Winding up a three-day meeting this week, the International Whaling Commission signaled what conservationists see as a dangerous change of course that jeopardizes the future of the world's great whales.
For several years, the 84-nation intergovernmental commission has been working on a detailed scientific procedure known as the Revised Management Procedure to ensure all catch limits for any future commercial whaling would be within sustainable limits calculated using tested scientific procedures.
On Wednesday, after an intersessional meeting in Rome attended by about half the member countries, the commission agreed to sidestep this scientific process and authorize a Small Working Group of member countries to continue developing a package of proposals for a resumption of commercial whaling, relying on ad-hoc catch limits set for five years at a time, without regard to long-term sustainability.
The proposed deal would grant Japan permission to hunt minke whales in its coastal waters in exchange for a scaling back of its so-called research whaling in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary near Antarctica.
The IWC's Scientific Committee, in a review of the Japanese program, concluded in 2007 that the scientific questions that the Japanese supposedly set out to answer, such as the natural mortality rate of whales, remain unresolved despite the killing of thousands of whales. The IWC has repeatedly called for Japan to end its lethal "research" program.
International Whaling Commission Chairman William Hogarth of the United States is leading this new IWC direction in an effort to resolve the bitter and long-standing dispute between the whaling nations Japan, Norway and Iceland and the whale conservation countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile and many others.
The final report of the Small Working Group will be available by May 18. The aim is that this deal would be approved by the full IWC at its annual meeting on the Portuguese island of Madeira in June.
Anti-whaling groups have united against the plan. Twenty-six conservation organizations from around the world have issued a call to governments asking them to oppose the deal. They say it could end the moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place since 1986 to allow the great whales to recover after centuries of unregulated whaling had brought many species close to extinction.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals has led the production of a briefing, signed by the world's leading anti-whaling organizations condemning the proposal, which the conservationists say "effectively barters with animals' lives."
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which sends ships to interfere with Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean, condemns what it calls "this proposal of appeasement" and calls upon President Barack Obama to remove Hogarth as the U.S. commissioner to the IWC.
"The United States has a policy of not negotiating with terrorists and they should not be negotiating with poachers," said Sea Shepherd founder and president Captain Paul Watson. "The Japanese whaling industry is a criminal organization that targets endangered whales in an established international whale sanctuary."
"Hogarth's proposal is so milquetoast and weak it does not even demand an end to Southern Ocean whaling and allows this criminal activity to continue," Watson said. "The United States will be betraying the whales and marine conservationists if they allow Hogarth to advance this shameful proposal of appeasement."
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is requesting an investigation of Hogarth by the U.S. Justice Department "to see if there are other unknown factors motivating Mr. Hogarth to sell out the whales to the outlaw whalers of Japan," said Watson.
In February, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, sent a letter to the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, calling for Hogarth's replacement "amid growing criticisms that holdover political appointees of the Bush administration are proposing to dismantle the current worldwide ban on commercial whaling."
In June 2008, the House of Representatives approved a resolution introduced by Rahall urging U.S. leadership to use all appropriate measures to end commercial whaling around the globe.
The Obama administration has taken a position in favor of continuing the IWC's whaling moratorium.
White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley said March 6, "The United States continues to view the commercial whaling moratorium as a necessary conservation measure and believes that lethal scientific whaling is unnecessary in modern whale conservation management. The United States also continues to have significant concerns over the recent resumption of international trade of whale meat."
"The administration is fully committed to furthering discussions of critical issues within the IWC, including the future of the organization," Sutley said. "While we reserve judgment on various proposals until discussions are completed, it is our view that any package, to be acceptable, must result in a significant improvement in the conservation status of whales,"
"We recognize some of these issues facing the IWC may require a longer view toward resolution," she said. "However, the failure to resolve these issues is not an acceptable outcome to the United States."
At the close of the meeting in Rome, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said Australia's proposals for "modernizing the Commission into a genuine conservation-focused organization continue to receive strong support from around the world."
"The Commission's history of gridlock is simply not acceptable. It is taking the cause of whale conservation backwards, and in the spirit of finding a way forward, Australia will continue to listen and discuss all views, standing firm in our opposition to commercial and so-called 'scientific' whaling," Garrett said.
