TUVALU (15 July 2004) -- The government of Tuvalu has denied its new-found interest in whaling has anything to do with financial gifts from Japan in exchange for support of Japan's commercial whaling agenda. Officials also deny Tuvalu will vote with Japan to block whale sanctuaries and end the ban on commercial whaling at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to be held later this month. Nelesone Panapasi, Tuvalu's secretary to the government, insisted that the small island nation has not sold its vote to Japan and will listen to the scientific evidence presented at the IWC annual meeting in Italy. "Well we'll listen to the scientific evidence that people have during the meeting, because we are yet to really know what information they have," Panapasi told reporters. But conservationists believe there is ample evidence that Tuvalu's sudden interest in whaling stems from under-the-table deals with Japan. While Panapasi denies selling out to Japan, he admits that the Japanese have presented "scientific" evidence to Tuvalu ahead of the IWC meeting and that Tuvalu supports what Japan describes as "sustainable use of marine resources." "Japan's strategy of buying pro-whaling votes from the world's smallest and most impoverished island nations is about as subtle as an exploding harpoon in the back of baby whale under the guise of 'scientific whaling'," said Evan T. Allard of Cyber Diver Society, the world's largest eco diver group. | | Death by a thousand cuts: Welcome to 'sustainable use of marine resources' Japanese style. "While tourism-dependent countries that sell out to Japan promote themselves as eco-friendly destinations committed to the protection of marine wildlife including dolphins and whales, they collude with Japan to block whale sanctuaries and end the ban on commercial whaling," Allard said. "They can't have it both ways," Allard added. "They can't have their whales and eat them too." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
