(from "Kujira to Inbou" (Whales and Plots), by Yoshito Umezaki, 1986)

Note:
1. The words of conversations or statements which were made in English are not the exact wording as the original, because they were translated from Japanese texts in the book.

2. Remarks starting with an "*" are mine.

It was only to obtain the vote necessary for the moratorium that these nations with no relation to or interest in whaling were recruited. Among these nations, the membership of West Germany attracts attention. Contrary to our expectation, it joined the IWC due to an approach from an anti-whaling organization.

"We approached Mrs. Schmidt - wife of the Prime Minister of West Germany. Since she was a fancier of the orchid, we at first approached many orchid experts in the world, and asked them to write letters to Mrs. Schmidt to request cooperation with whale protection. Of course, orchids were sent with the letters. When we ask cooperation from top politicians, it is our strategy to also approach his wife or daughters. The case of West Germany was one example in which this strategy worked well."
- David McTaggart

McTaggart - a 52-year-old Canadian - is chairman of Greenpeace. He stated similar to the above in a TV program "60 Minutes", in a documentary to introduce the activities of Greenpeace, broadcast by CBS (USA) in May 1985. Knowing such facts, I cannot help having a simple question about what the Japanese Foreign Ministry did with West Germany - one of the important friendly nations.

According to the IWC regulations, a majority vote at the plenary session requires a three-quarters majority (excluding abstentions) to amend the Schedule of the Convention. In the event the moratorium was proposed, the following nine whaling nations were supposed to vote against, obviously.

Iceland, USSR, Japan, Norway, Brazil, Korea, Peru, Chile, Spain.

To obtain the three-quarters majority, 27 (three multiplied by nine) more nations were necessary. Until 1980, only 13 nations were thought to vote for the Moratorium. But since 15 nations joined in 1981 and 1982, the number increased to 28. This means conditions came about that would enable the adoption of the moratorium in the IWC.

Among 15 nations, nations such as India, Philippines, Egypt, Kenya, Monaco, West Germany are those which everybody knows. Although Monaco had become known among the Japanese since famous actress Grace Kelly had became the queen, people who know countries such as St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua & Barbuda are rare. Anyhow, a Japanese official of the Foreign Ministry wondered about these nations and had to look into materials in a hurry. These nations are small islands in the Caribbean Sea, and had just become independent from the UK between 1979 to 1981.

From these nations, the 'foreigner delegates', like the case of Watson of the Seychelles, emerged. People who did not have either the nationality of the country nor any relationship to it began to attend the IWC as delegates. They were F. Palacio of St Lucia, C. Davey of St Vincent & the Grenadines, R.S. Payne of Antigua & Barbuda. F. Palacio - a Colombian - lives in Miami, Florida, USA. C. Davey and R.S. Paine are Americans and also live in Miami. J.P. Fortom-Gouin, who became the acting commissioner of the St Lucia delegation after Panama had quit the IWC, also lives in Miami.

One thing common to these 'foreigner delegates' are that they are fanatic cetacean lovers. C. Davey, the chairman of the board of directors of the Cetuman Foundation, was possessed by a love of sperm whales. The name "Cetuman" is mixture of "Cetacean" and "Man", and was an expression of a belief that cetaceans - especially toothed whales like sperm whales - would establish communication with mankind in the future. In the spring of 1982 the Cetuman Foundation put a sensational anti-whaling advertisement in Japanese newspapers. It had an illustration of a sperm whale, spilling blood with a harpoon stuck in its back, and in large print, the message that "Japan is the only country who voted for continuation of the killing of sperm whales." Also, another message: "Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, please direct that the killing of sperm whales stop as soon as possible".

Payne insists that humpback whales are the best soprano singers. Once he had made a large profit by the sale of disks of 'humpback singers' which was recorded in the Bermuda Islands and near Hawaii. It was around 1971 when movements to ban whaling had just started. It is true that humpback whales sing, but it could be heard only near the Bermuda Islands or Hawaii. It is not known why they sing only there, but Payne says that since these areas are mating grounds, the song must be for sexual attraction. Payne says with a straight face that whales could play a violin if they were able to use hands.

J.P. Fortom-Gouin is a Frenchman who was born in Morocco. He is around forty years old, had made a fortune as a real estate broker, and established the "Institute for Delphinid Research" in Miami for the study of the intelligence and activity of dolphins. Because of being a Frenchman, he is not fluent at English. So he recruited F. Palacio who had been the head of the Tinker Institute of University of Miami^(*1). Although F. Palacio was not a whale scientist, in the Scientific Committee he played a role attacking Japan with his eloquence and knowledge of marine biology obtained through the study of the mackerel.

1 According to another information, Palacio was an instructor in marine fisheries at Rosenstiel School of Marine Science of the University of Miami, and was also head of Greenpeace Latin America.

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