Bridget Vercoe: Relocating the cruelty won't save the whales

Whalers still use the exploding grenade harpoon to kill whales. Photo / AP

Since its formation at last year's International Whaling Commission meeting, the small working group on the future of the IWC, of which New Zealand is a member, has held a number of closed-door meetings.

In an attempt to find a solution to the polarised deadlock between the pro- and anti-whaling camps, the group's two chairs have suggested a possible compromise deal.

This deal would see Japan hunting endangered whales in its coastal waters in exchange for a "scaling back" of bogus "scientific" hunts in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. The commission's intersessional meeting opens in Rome on Monday to discuss such a deal.

Any New Zealander concerned with the protection of whales should have grave concerns with the proposed deal. Allowing Japanese coastal communities to hunt whales sets an extremely dangerous precedent.

Any country with an interest in whaling could then reasonably expect similar treatment, opening the floodgates to an uncontrolled erosion of the global whaling ban. Such coastal whaling would exploit whales already at risk from a raft of other threats such as noise pollution, climate change, by-catch and overfishing.

In exchange for this major concession to Japan, the chairpersons propose only short-term, non-binding limits to that country's "scientific" whaling. Norway and Iceland would continue unhindered to commercially hunt more than 1000 whales each year. This would clearly fail to meet the expectations of more than 75 per cent of New Zealanders who, according to a 2008 Nielsen poll, believe the Government should oppose commercial whaling worldwide.

More than two-thirds of New Zealanders who object to whaling do so because of welfare as well as conservation concerns. Whalers continue to use the exploding grenade harpoon to kill whales - a method little changed in over 100 years. The harpoon is designed to detonate inside the whale's body, creating a large wound, at least 20cm wide, which triples in size when the harpoon's barbs hook into the whale's body. But, despite the destructive power of the explosive harpoon, in Japanese hunts about 60 per cent of whales do not die immediately. Given the constantly moving environment in which whales live and are hunted and the sheer size and body mass of whales, it is difficult to guarantee a quick clean kill.

Each year, many hundreds of severely wounded whales endure further harpoon and rifle fire, sometimes for over an hour, before succumbing to their injuries.

The chairpersons' proposal to sanction such a crude and inherently inhumane practice would be a huge step backwards for animal welfare globally.

Sadly, the proposed deal is nothing but a short-term fix driven by the false notion that the IWC is dysfunctional, at the point of collapse and requiring urgent resolution at whatever cost.

We sincerely hope the Government will reject the proposed deal and, instead, pursue a complete and permanent phase-out of "scientific" and commercial whaling along with tangible measures to reform the IWC into a conservation body. The moratorium on commercial whaling remains one of the greatest conservation measures of our time, having prevented the extinction of several species and saved tens of thousands of whales from inhumane deaths.

If we are to have any hope of protecting the world's whales for generations to come, the whaling ban must be maintained and strengthened and the cruelty of whaling consigned to the history books.

To truly "save the whales", we must do more than guard species or populations, we must protect each intelligent, sentient individual animal from unacceptable cruelty. A package which essentially just moves cruelty from the Southern Ocean to the North Pacific - and in doing so sanctions that cruelty - is not the answer.

* Bridget Vercoe is the New Zealand programmes manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals. WSPA leads Whalewatch, an international network of about 40 non-governmental organisations opposed to whaling on welfare grounds.