(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO/CASTRIES – Suriname has changed its stance on small-scale commercial whaling. For years, previous administrations chose to side with Japan and other countries who favour lifting the moratorium on commercial whaling. The Bouterse administration, however, is heading in a different direction. The government wants to add whales, mainly dolphins in Surinamese waters, to its bio-diversity to attract tourists. ‘We had a different stance before, but that has changed. The incumbent government does not advocate commercial whaling, but rather wants these endangered species to be protected. We might consider advocating whaling for scientific research, but not the large-scale hunt for human consumption,’ Foreign Minister Winston Lackin tells de Ware Tijd.
Within the government not all institutions seem to back the new stance. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (LVV) in charge of this policy, still backs the previous administrations’ stance. Acting permanent secretary for Fisheries, Rene Lieveld, explains that Suriname’s stance in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has time and again explicitly been explained wrongly. Lieveld, who is Suriname’s newest representative in the IWC, says that the country never backed Japan, but rather sympathized with that country.
Japan has always argued that it first wants to do research on which whales to hunt, ‘and that I can relate to,’ says Lieveld. ‘Nature continues to produce so man should harvest the surplus,’ says Lieveld, a biologist who advocates sustainable use of nature. His stance is backed by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism of the Caricom. The IWC concluded its 64th annual meeting in Panama last week. Suriname, a member since 2004, did not send a representative this year, mainly because Suriname’s stance has not been promoted enough within the government. Lieveld admits that Foreign Affairs Minister Lackin has said a number of times that Suriname would back the Buenos Aires Group, a Latin American coalition that favours peaceful use of sea mammals and has formed a block against commercial whaling.
Lieveld says that the problem would be when Suriname would try to commercialize whaling. ‘Surinamese do not eat whale, but would whaling require Suriname to do research first?’ Because Suriname has a backlog in contributions since 2011, it has no right to vote in IWC meetings. The debt, £11,235, does not seem to be a big issue, says Lieveld, because in the past Suriname has abstained from voting. However, this is not a real solution, because as a member, Suriname should be able to voice its stance. Lieveld refrains from a response whether the previous representative just went on a jaunt paid for by Japan.
