Press Releases
8 November 2000 - MPs, Ministers and Academics Attend Assembly
More than 200 people from around the world have registered to attend the World Council of Whalers 3rd Assembly and Conference in Nelson from 15 - 19 November 2000.
Among the delegates attending are academics from universities and research institutes and conservation organisations (from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Fiji, Greenland, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, and the United States), Ministers and MPs representing the governments of Greenland, St Lucia in the Caribbean, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan.
Central and local Government officials from Australia, Canada, Cook Islands, Denmark, Faroe Island, the Federated States of Micronesia, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Solomon Islands, Tonga, the United States and Zimbabwe will also attend.
World Council of Whalers chairman Tom Mexsis Happynook said it was pleasing so many government representatives, MPs and Ministers, conservation organisations and coastal community leaders will attend the assembly.
"Our assemblies are about free and frank discussion over sustainable whaling, focussing on traditional access to marine mammals by Indigenous Peoples and local communities with long histories of sustainable whale use.
"The assembly will also discuss contaminants in marine mammals and marine sanctuaries ¾ issues of great concern to both whalers and environmentalists," he said.
Chief Tom Mexsis Happynook said the World Council welcomed delegates from all countries, including Japan, which had spent the last 14 years assessing population numbers and researching stock structures, along with input from other whaling nations, to improve management techniques.
"It's important to have all whaling communities represented at our assemblies. The World Council does not distinguish between commercial and aboriginal subsistence whaling. It distinguishes between sustainable whaling and unsustainable whaling. Unsustainable whaling must never occur again," he said.
"The World Council of Whalers represents both Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups, both of which share a common concern for the sustainable use of marine resources. To say Indigenous Peoples are being duped by so-called commercial interests is ridiculous, as many aboriginal communities utilise whales on a commercial basis to survive and have done so for many years."
Tom Mexsis Happynook said Indigenous Peoples are intelligent thinking people who wish to engage in constructive dialogue on sustainable whaling.