Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has said Dominica will not change its position at the 63rd Meeting of the International Whaling Commission this year.
After several years of support for commercial whaling, Dominica has abstained over the last few years.
“Our position is that we support the sustainable use of marine resources and all resources. We are not going to get into this ideological battle between those who support whaling and the environmentalist who doesn’t support whaling. We thought it was in Dominica’s interest to move away from a position which we had for several years but it doesn’t mean that Dominica is not in support of the sustainable use of its marine resrouces at all,” he said.
Skerrit said every year government will review its position “all the evidence we have before us and we will make a determination”. He said Dominica is a sovereign state and “we have a right for our own determination and we will not be bullied by anyone to take any decision”.
He noted that any decision taken will be done in the best interest of the country.
Good Job PM
Great you are supporting Dominican Jobs and investments
What a joke sitting on the fence. Is it because we support Japan and it’s wide spread slaughter of whales? We are the Nature Isle ,,a creature vital to us with it’s numbers and existence in jeopardy due to overfishing should be protected and defended without prejudices by us. Wrong move ,sir.
Mr Prime Minister as a tiny non influential island /country we understand our position in the food chain. We acknowledge that our vote is significant and that our previous stance was based solely on whatever we perceive as assistance from Japan. So far we have received a few fisheries facilities all of which remain as the proverbial white elephants. Why not raise the price of our vote on the whaling issue. Why not swap our vote for an international airport whether or not the airport becomes a white elephant at least we will have one more white elephant ; 6 better than 5 . Having a white elephant international standard airport is better than not having one at all.
Again you Mr Prime Minister are misrepresenting or fiddling with the issue.” Our position is that we support the sustainable use of marine resources and all resources”. That seem to suggest that we should vote against the slaughtering of whales as Dominica’s tourism appeal seem to be hinged upon whale watching. Or do we support the hunting of whales because the activity bring sustainable economic activities to Japan.
It is ironic that while we take an apathetic stance on the issue we are advertising Dominica as one of the world’s premier whale watching location. If we are prepared to take such risks we might as well go for the gold on this. No one is going to hold us accountable if we sell our vote but if we do why sell our votes for a fisheries complex- why not sell our votes for an airport so that those who voted against Japan can easily come to Dominica to enjoy whale watching and whatever else we’ve got.
Sometimes it is good to be like Tony Astaphan- no morals in business just do what it takes. Play the game lie deceive, double talk, twist just to make the dollar. At the end of the day we will have an international airport a few un counterparts will call us opportunist but then who isn’t .