Opinion, ISCA

The Civil Society Initiative for the Environment (ISCA), a coalition of 10 civic organizations, calls upon the Maritime Authority of Panama (AMP) and the Ministry of Foreign Relations to take advantage of the 54th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Shimonoseki, Japan, to manifest the Panamanian people's complete opposition to whaling for supposed "scientific ends," and to support the continued moritorium on such activity, which has been in effect for 16 years, since 1986.

The purpose of the International Convention to Regulate the Whaling Industry, which was approved in 1946, is "the conservation of whale populations, which makes the orderly development of the whaling industry possible." Any country that has approved the convention may be admitted as a member of the IWC. However, although Panama ratified the treaty more than 43 years ago, by way of Law 37 of October 25, 1958 (Gaceta Oficial 13,693, November 20, 1958), it never joined the IWC until it did so last year, apparently at the insistence of the Japanese government. ISCA deplores the situation in which the government of Panama has adhered to the position of its Japanese counterpart, in exchange for "development aid" provided by this Asian country, as has been reported in the local media.

ISCA notes that there is no conclusive scientific information about the current state of whale populations, and moreover that it's hard to estimate these populations in reliable way due to genetic differences and uncertainties as to whether some groups of whales that have been identified are or are not distinct species. Because of that, this is a case for the Precautionary Principle stated in the 1992 Rio Declaration, which provides that "when there's a danger of grave irreversible damage, the lack of absolute scientific certainty must not be used as a reason to postpone the adoption of effective measures to impede the degradation of the environment."

In other words, Panamanian environmentalists say that without convincing scientific proof that whale populations are not now threatened with extinction, the moratorium must continue. At the IWC meeting in London last year, Japan tried to get the necessary votes to lift that moratorium, which fortunately it was unable to do.

ISCA reminds the Panamanian government and people of the importance to ecosystems of the preservation and conservation of species in danger of extinction. In our country, in Coiba National Park, whales of different species can be seen. We therefore demand that the government of Panama vote to maintain the moratorium on hunting these cetaeceans.

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