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Japan Is the Only Nation Living Up to Rio Summit Pledge
Lloyd Pascal, Dominicas Commissioner at the IWC, took issue with those who accuse the islands of only being there for the sake of Japanese aidEWe have had to bear insults, even being called Japanese lap dogsby certain NGOs at the IWCs 55th annual meeting in Berlin last year. But the reality of the matter is that Japan is the only one of the developed countries thats living up to its pledge at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 to commit 0.7% of its budget to the cause of helping developing countries in the area of sustainable use of their renewable resources.E/font>
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Horace Walters, ECCOs Programme Coordinator, supported Pascals position regarding Japanese assistance for the Caribbeans fisheries sector. He told the symposium that ECCO, which was established to assist in promoting sustainable use of the regions marine resources, was instrumental in influencing the Japanese government to allocate US$4.1 million to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to conduct a region-wide study on how the islands extract and the impact of their use of their renewable marine resources.
(This article is based on a report by Mr. Earl Bousquet of St. Lucia from Port of Spain on March 10, 2004) |
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ICFA Urges IWC To Terminate Commercial Whaling Moratorium
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The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) adopted a resolution calling on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for termination of the commercial whaling moratorium at its annual meeting held in Auckland, New Zealand, from November 26 to 28, 2003.
The meeting was attended by major fisheries organizations from eight countries: Japan, the United States, Canada, Russia, New Zealand, Iceland, Thailand and the Philippines.
The resolution recognized that the sovereignty, cultural practices, and dietary habits of individual nations and its peoples should be duly respected. It said that ICFA is deeply concerned about the establishment of the Conservation Committee at the 55th IWC annual meeting in Berlin in 2003 because it will further aggravate the polarization of the IWC. The resolution urged the IWC to complete and implement the Revised Management Scheme at the earliest opportunity thereby ending the moratorium on commercial whaling.
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The participants exchanged views on a number of other issues important to fisheries, expressing its position in the form of resolution. Notably, ICFA stressed the need to take countermeasures against the ongoing anti-commercial fishing campaigns and to promote appropriate publicity activities. It also opposed the unreasonable establishment of Marine Protected Areas, pointing out that the use of MPA will require careful planning and evaluation as well as the risk of its misuse.
(For details of resolutions, visit www.icfa.net)
| ICFA Delegates at session |
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