Rahall Calls for New Leadership on U.S. Anti-Whaling Efforts

CONTACT: Allyson Groff or Blake Androff, 202-226-9019

Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) this week called for the replacement of the current U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), amid growing criticisms that holdover political appointees of the Bush Administration are proposing to dismantle the current worldwide ban on commercial whaling.

In a letter to the Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Rahall said, "The American people care deeply about protecting whales and do not want the U.S. to be the broker who capitulated to those who still want to kill whales for commercial gain. It is my hope that the new Administration will take the necessary steps to repair the damage done in recent years, and to reestablish our nation's longstanding commitment to protecting whales."

Further, Rahall stressed the importance of replacing the current U.S. Commissioner of the IWC, Dr. William Hogarth, to "ensure that the Bush Administration policies and negotiation tactics truly become a thing of past."

Rahall had been fiercely critical of the Bush Administration's lack of leadership on the issue during its eight years in office. In March 2007, Rahall and 56 Members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Business Carlos Gutierrez outlining the dire need for the Administration to reassert its influence and leadership within the IWC. In June 2008, the House of Representatives approved a resolution introduced by Rahall urging U.S. leadership to use all appropriate measures to put an end to commercial whaling around the globe.

The full text of the letter follows:

February 3, 2009

Acting Secretary Otto Wolf

U.S. Department of Business

14^th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230

Dear Acting Secretary Wolf:

I am writing to express my strong concern regarding continuing efforts by political appointees of the previous Administration to dismantle the current worldwide ban on commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The determination of Dr. William Hogarth, the current U.S. IWC Commissioner who was appointed by President Bush, to negotiate an arrangement at the IWC that would legitimize commercial whaling is not only at odds with the wishes of the American people, past Administrations, and numerous Members of Congress, but it is also contrary to the new Administration's commitment to transparency in policy-making.

The premise for these negotiations generally is the need to reduce the number of whales killed each year. I wholeheartedly support this goal. Unfortunately, the suggested arrangement made public by Dr. Hogarth does nothing to guarantee that this will be the case, while at the same time legitimizing commercial whaling which has long been opposed by the U.S. Government and the American people.

Through a closed-door process launched in 2008, Dr. Hogarth has been negotiating an arrangement within the IWC with little direction from, and that contains elements that are contrary to, the positions of the U.S. Government. The suggested arrangement anticipates only a reduction in, but not the end of, so-called "scientific whaling" in the Southern Ocean in exchange for allowing the commercial harvest of whales from Japanese coastal waters in the Western North Pacific under the guise of a category called "coastal whaling". This is troubling for several reasons:

1. It legitimizes commercial whaling within the IWC;

2. Any arrangement to reduce scientific whaling will not be binding on Japan or any other country involved in this practice now and there is nothing to prevent other countries from engaging in such whaling in the future. Given the history at the IWC of disregarding the rules on scientific whaling, we have little evidence to demonstrate that these practices would change;

3. Any reduction in the numbers of whales taken by Japan under the guise of scientific whaling could be offset by increases by other countries like Norway and Iceland who recently sold whale meat purportedly harvested for scientific research to Japan for commercial consumption;

4. Commercial coastal whaling activities will not be limited only to Japan and could be undertaken by other countries once Japan is given approval to do so;

5. Japan's suggestion for coastal whaling will target the depleted population of "J stock" minke whales, thereby threatening an already at-risk species; and

6. Undermining the moratorium will establish and stimulate a market for whale meat.

When viewed in this light, the suggested arrangement portends a very real possibility that the number of whales killed each year will increase rather than decrease while giving Japan and other countries the blessing of the IWC to reinstitute commercial whaling activities.

The American people remain firmly opposed to commercial whaling in any form. The U.S. Congress has also made its views known on this point. In December 2007, 76 Members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then-Secretary of Business Carlos Gutierrez outlining the urgent need for the U.S. to reassert its positive influence and leadership within the IWC. In June 2008, a clear majority of my colleagues passed House Concurrent Resolution 350, which, among other things, urged U.S. leadership to use all appropriate measures to put an end to commercial whaling around the globe. It is now time to reexamine our current position at the IWC and to set new goals for protecting whales into the future with an explicit commitment to the accountability and transparency that was lost during the last 8 years.

Timing is extremely important in this situation. An IWC Intersessional meeting is scheduled to take place in March 2009 followed by the 61^st yearly IWC meeting in Madeira, Portugal, in June. These meetings will be pivotal in determining the future of the IWC and the level of international legal protection afforded the world's great whales. It is imperative that the new Administration act now to provide new instructions to Dr. Hogarth as U.S. Commissioner and to our delegation in advance of the March IWC meeting. Further, it is critical that an appointee of the new Administration replace Dr. Hogarth before the June meeting to ensure that the Bush Administration policies and negotiation tactics truly become a thing of the past.

We need to change the current course not only because science and public sentiment are so strongly in favor of protecting whales but also because the approach taken by the U.S. during the last several years has lacked critical transparency. The American people care deeply about protecting whales and do not want the U.S. to be the broker who capitulated to those who still want to kill whales for commercial gain. It is my hope the new Administration will take the necessary steps to repair the damage done in recent years, and to reestablish our nation's longstanding commitment to protecting whales.

With warm regards, I am

Sincerely,

NICK J. RAHALL, II
Chairman
Committee on Natural Resources

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