FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands (AP) — There are no guarantees that negotiators from pro- and anti-whaling nations will settle their dispute within a 12-month deadline they have set themselves, the new head of the International Whaling Commission said Friday.
"I can't promise a final solution within a year. I hope at the very least we have the framework of an agreement at the end of that period," Cristian Maquieira said at the end of the IWC's weeklong annual meeting.
Delegates from more than 80 countries at the talks in Portugal's Madeira islands remained split between nations which support whaling and those that demand its end. However, they agreed to keep pursuing an agreement in time for next year's meeting in Morocco.
The stalemate, which has angered conservation groups, has lasted since a 1986 ban on commercial whaling.
Japan, Norway and Iceland together continue to harpoon around 2,000 whales annually. They argue that many species, such as minke whales, are abundant enough to continue hunting them. They are backed by around half the IWC's member nations.
The United States, Australia and the European Union, among others, want whaling to stop or at least be reduced.
Maquieira, a veteran Chilean diplomat who was elected IWC president Thursday, said both sides would have to compromise.
"In the final outcome, not everybody's going to get what they want. If they want to have an agreement they're going to have to swallow some very tough decisions," he said in an interview.
Maquieira noted an improvement in the tenor of negotiations in recent years. In the past, delegates have stormed out of meetings and environmentalists were not allowed to attend.
Conservation groups attending the Madeira meeting as official observers were mostly unhappy about the IWC's decision to extend the negotiations for another year.
"The culture of avoiding clear decisions, including by voting if necessary, won't simply resolve any problem," said Nicolas Entrup of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
Other groups, however, said they were encouraged by IWC's willingness to address climate change and other environmental concerns.
The IWC was set up by whaling countries in 1949 to oversee their industry but it now has to deal with 21st-century threats to whales such as noise and water pollution.
"The tone and substance (of the talks) reflect a steady drift towards the IWC becoming a conservation forum and away from being a whalers' club," said Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a U.S.-based conservation group.
by the associated press
"I can't promise a final solution within a year. I hope at the very least we have the framework of an agreement at the end of that period," Cristian Maquieira said at the end of the IWC's weeklong annual meeting.
Delegates from more than 80 countries at the talks in Portugal's Madeira islands remained split between nations which support whaling and those that demand its end. However, they agreed to keep pursuing an agreement in time for next year's meeting in Morocco.
The stalemate, which has angered conservation groups, has lasted since a 1986 ban on commercial whaling.
Japan, Norway and Iceland together continue to harpoon around 2,000 whales annually. They argue that many species, such as minke whales, are abundant enough to continue hunting them. They are backed by around half the IWC's member nations.
The United States, Australia and the European Union, among others, want whaling to stop or at least be reduced.
Maquieira, a veteran Chilean diplomat who was elected IWC president Thursday, said both sides would have to compromise.
"In the final outcome, not everybody's going to get what they want. If they want to have an agreement they're going to have to swallow some very tough decisions," he said in an interview.
Maquieira noted an improvement in the tenor of negotiations in recent years. In the past, delegates have stormed out of meetings and environmentalists were not allowed to attend.
Conservation groups attending the Madeira meeting as official observers were mostly unhappy about the IWC's decision to extend the negotiations for another year.
"The culture of avoiding clear decisions, including by voting if necessary, won't simply resolve any problem," said Nicolas Entrup of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
Other groups, however, said they were encouraged by IWC's willingness to address climate change and other environmental concerns.
The IWC was set up by whaling countries in 1949 to oversee their industry but it now has to deal with 21st-century threats to whales such as noise and water pollution.
"The tone and substance (of the talks) reflect a steady drift towards the IWC becoming a conservation forum and away from being a whalers' club," said Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a U.S.-based conservation group.
by the associated press
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