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RR RUEHMJ RUEHPB
DE RUEHWL #0600/01 2131917
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 011917Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3111
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4501
RUEHMJ/AMEMBASSY MAJURO 0093
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0505
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 0593
RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA 0494
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0603
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000600 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/ANP AND OES/OA 
PACOM FOR JO1E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2016 
TAGS: SENV EFIS IWC PREL ETRD NZ XV
SUBJECT: PACIFIC ISLANDS BETRAY NEW ZEALAND OVER WHALES 
 
REF: WELLINGTON 406 
 
(U) Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Katherine 
¶B. Hadda, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
Summary 
------- 
¶1. (SBU) GNZ feels betrayed by Pacific Island countries 
(PICs) that voted in support of the pro-whaling lobby at the 
58th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission. 
But New Zealand officials say that rather than entering into 
an aid battle with the pro-whaling lobby they intend to 
remain focused on the elimination of poverty in the region by 
promoting good governance and building institutional 
capacity.  Meanwhile, GNZ is looking ahead for better IWC 
outcomes, and hopes to continue cooperation with USG 
officials towards that end.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Poloff recently discussed with Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials GNZ views on whaling and 
Pacific Island countries following the 58th Annual Meeting of 
the International Whaling Commission (IWC), held last June in 
St. Kitts and Nevis 
 
Pacific Islands betray New Zealand 
---------------------------------- 
¶3. (U) The Acting Director of MFAT's Environment Division, 
Christine Bogle, said that PICs helped the pro-whaling lobby 
defeat conservationists when 33 member states voted in favor 
and 32 states against the St. Kitts and Nevis Declaration. 
The St. Kitts declaration called for an end to the moratorium 
on commercial whaling, stated that the moratorium runs 
counter to the 1946 International Convention for the 
Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), and accepted that whales are 
consuming huge quantities of fish and threaten the food 
security of coastal nations. 
 
¶4. (U) While the declaration lacks force without backing by 
75 percent of member states, both GNZ and the New Zealand 
public felt betrayed when all six PIC members of the IWC 
voted in favor of the declaration: Kiribati, Republic of the 
Marshall Islands, Nauru, Republic of Palau, Solomon Islands 
and Tuvalu. (FYI: NZ is currently contributing to 
peacekeeping efforts in the Solomons.  End FYI.)  In a June 
19 press release, NZ's Minister of Conservation Chris Carter 
(an Assistant Commissioner to the IWC and GNZ's lead 
negotiator) said that "these countries have let down their 
neighbors in the Pacific, many of whom have established whale 
sanctuaries to protect marine life in their waters.  New 
Zealand has often gone the extra mile for many of these 
Pacific nations and today they have not reciprocated." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) All of the PICs were co-sponsors to the St. Kitts 
declaration, and as a group took a strong pro-Japan position 
on four other votes.  The Solomons abstained on two votes 
(introducing secret ballots and allowing Japanese coastal 
communities to hunt whales), and Kiribati and Tuvalu each 
abstained on one vote (Japanese coastal whaling and 
elimination of Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, respectively). 
 Bogle said that leaders from four of the PICs, the Solomons, 
Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru, had previously informed Carter 
that they would not vote in favor of overturning the 
moratorium. 
 
¶6. (U) The Opposition National Party was quick to criticize 
the Government, with Foreign Affairs spokesperson Murray 
McCully saying that Carter should be removed as lead 
negotiator, and that the "defection" of key Pacific states 
was the result of a "half-hearted, insufficiently focused New 
Zealand aid strategy in the Pacific."  "We should be having a 
very focused conversation about the International Whaling 
Commission and other items as part of a total relationship 
package," McCully said.  New Zealand's Foreign Minister 
Winston Peters countered saying that "binding aid to the 
compliance of Pacific countries with the policies and 
procedures of donor countries is the exact thing we are 
trying to get rid of." 
 
Future strategy toward the Pacific Islands 
------------------------------------------ 
¶7. (C) MFAT has directed its overseas posts to discuss with 
Pacific Island governments the outcomes of IWC, but has not 
 
WELLINGTON 00000600  002 OF 002 
 
 
received any responses to date, said Bogle.  GNZ will 
approach the departments of conservation in PICs and will 
express its disappointment with the voting and suggest 
support for conservation through whale-watching.  GNZ sees 
whale-watching as an important vehicle for the 
pro-conservation lobby. 
 
¶8. (SBU) But as Minister Peters noted, despite disappointment 
over the PIC IWC votes, GNZ is not going to enter a battle of 
aid with Japan and the pro-whaling community.  Bogle said 
NZAID priorities are focused on the elimination of poverty 
through building of institutional capacity (such as primary 
education) and good governance initiatives.  Deputy Director 
of the Pacific Division, MFAT, Marion Crawshaw agreed.  She 
said "we've got bigger issues with the Pacific Islands than 
whales, but we will continue to raise the issue, especially 
in the Solomons.  We have regular contact with the Minister 
of Fisheries and Marine Resources Nollen Leni as part of a 
NZAID fisheries project."  The project, which is intended to 
strengthen the institutions around fisheries and revenue, is 
part of GNZ commitment under the Regional Assistance Mission 
to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) in 2006/2007, Crawshaw said. 
 
GNZ interests going forward 
--------------------------- 
¶9. (SBU) Bogle said that Japan announced in St. Kitts its 
intention to host a conference for "normalization" of the IWC 
(a movement toward management of commercial whaling), and 
understood that Japan would provide member states with 
details on the conference within a month of the St. Kitts 
meeting.  To date, GNZ has received no further details on the 
conference, and requests that we share any information we 
receive.  GNZ is concerned about what the outcomes of such a 
conference may be, but believes it would provide important 
signals for the 59th annual meeting of the IWC in Anchorage, 
Alaska next year. 
 
¶10. (SBU) As work on the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) 
progresses, GNZ seeks nothing weaker than existing 
international provisions for managing marine mammals, such as 
those provided by the Commission for the Conservation of 
Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), said Bogle.  She 
said GNZ is pleased that U.S. Commissioner Dr. William 
Hogarth has been elected as the next Chair of the IWC, and 
noted that Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former New Zealand Prime 
Minister and GNZ's Commissioner to the IWC, strongly 
supported and lobbied on behalf of Dr. Hogarth.  Bogle said 
GNZ supports the renewal of the aboriginal subsistence quotas 
next year, but suspects that the Japanese may try to block 
renewal as bargaining leverage for the resumption of 
commercial whaling. 
McCormick