to support an end to the ban on whale hunting.
Some of these small and relatively poor Caribbean islands are being offered large chunks of foreign aid by Japan to support the Japanese move to end the ban on whaling.
These islands are also becoming increasingly dependent on tourism to support their local economies, so it sure shouldn't hurt to remind them that they could be pissing off a large segment of their prospective tourist market if they are seen as being pro-whaling.
Save the Whales?
Not if Japan's Bribes Pay Off
by Anthony Browne
Dominica is a speck on the world map, a beautiful Caribbean island smothered in dense volcanic jungle. With a population smaller than a typical British country town and landing space for nothing but the smallest planes, it is off the usual tourist trail.
But the island has found itself at the center of an international power struggle that will reach a climax in London in July. Ministers and diplomats from the world's richest countries have flocked here brandishing open check books, suitcases stuffed with cash - and, in some cases, muttering dark threats. The Caribbean nation may be home to fewer than 70,000 people, but it has one asset that other countries are prepared to pay big money for: a vote on the international body that sets the rules for commercial hunting of whales. With that vote, Dominica has a voice equal in weight to that of the US, the UK or Japan.
Dominica's Ministers have enjoyed a string of overseas trips with lavish VIP treatment normally reserved for royalty. Keen to get a ban on whaling lifted, Japan has flooded the country with cash and aid in the hope that Dominica will vote to allow slaughter to recommence.
In Dominica's hands - and those of a few other small nations - is the future of the world's great whales. Since the International Whaling Commission voted for a ban on whaling in 1982, some species such as minke and sperm have started recovering. The blue whale remains critically endangered.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0513-01.htm