U.S. Department of the Interior

Office of the Secretary
Contact: Hugh Vickery, in Santiago,
For Immediate Release: November 8, 2002
011-56-9-605-7360
or 011-56-9-685-5222 (News Media Only)


United States Hails Rejection of
Proposals to Resume Commercial Whaling

(SANTIAGO, CHILE) -- The United States is pleased that the member nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) voted today to reject proposals put forward by Japan to resume commercial trade in two species of whales, the two leaders of the U.S. delegation said today.

The Japanese proposals would have downlisted virtually all the northern hemisphere populations of minke whales and the western North Pacific population of Bryde's whales from Appendix I to Appendix II of the convention.

The proposals would have allowed resumption of commercial trade in whales for the first time since 1986 when virtually all whale populations were placed in Appendix I.

Under CITES, a proposal to uplist or downlist a species requires a two-thirds majority vote. Neither of the Japanese proposals garnered even a majority.

"The United States strongly stated its position that we do not believe that the species qualify for downlisting to Appendix II or that it would be appropriate to resume commercial trade at this time," said Assistant Secretary of State John Turner, one of the two U.S. delegation leaders to CITES' 12th Conference of Parties in Santiago. "We are gratified that other nations agreed with our position and voted to reject the proposals."

The United States also believes it is inappropriate to consider downlisting the two species under CITES until the International Whaling Commission completes its revised management scheme for the species, Turner said. The IWC currently has in place a moratorium on commercial whaling.

"The decision to lower the protection status for species under CITES depends both upon biological factors and whether effective management and enforcement plans are in place," Turner said. "Currently there is no agreed-upon plan to regulate and enforce commercial whaling, so the two species clearly do not qualify for downlisting."

The United States again expressed its disappointment that supporters of the Japanese proposals forced the votes to be conducted by secret ballot.

"We believe that all votes cast at CITES conferences should be open for all to see," said Assistant Secretary of Interior Craig Manson, the other U.S. delegation leader. "Open balloting ensures accountability, something that does not always occur when balloting is secret."

The United States makes it a policy to publicly announce how it voted whenever there is a secret ballot.

CITES is an international agreement signed by 158 nations that is designed to control and regulate global trade in certain wild animals and plants that are or may become threatened with extinction due to commercial trade.

A CITES-regulated species may be included in one of three appendices to the Convention:

Any listing of a species in either Appendix I or II requires approval by two thirds of the CITES party countries.

The United States has sponsored or cosponsored a number of proposals including listing of a variety of imperiled turtle species under Appendix II, including the yellow-headed temple turtle, roofed turtle, yellow pond turtle, big-headed turtle, keeled box turtle, black marsh turtle, and narrow-headed softshell turtle.

The United States also is proposing inclusion of seahorses and humpback wrasse under Appendix II, and moving two species of cacti - the Tonopah fishhook cactus and Blaine's pincushion - from Appendix II to Appendix I.

The Conference of Parties began Nov. 3 and will conclude Nov. 15.



-DOI-





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