The Pacific Ocean is not what divides Pacific Islanders but instead what unites us and the Pacific Islands as a bloc needs to stand together now more than ever.

Once again the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets. This global forum meets to decide the fate of the last great marine mammals, whales. Last year's meeting in Alaska saw the importance of the ban on commercial whaling confirmed by a 40 to 2 vote that condemned Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling program, and a bid by Japan to undertake coastal whaling withdrawn. Unfortunately, a proposed whale sanctuary for the South Atlantic was also defeated aided by some Pacific Island members of the IWC.

The Japanese government's campaign to continue its whaling has reached the Pacific.

At last years IWC meeting five of the six Pacific Island member countries did not only let whales down but also refused to help preserve a big part of the Pacific Islands' regional culture.

The six member countries of the IWC are Kiribati, Tuvalu, Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Palau and Nauru.

On a more positive note six Pacific Island countries and regions have made their territorial waters whale sanctuaries, including Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue, Fiji and Australia.

In addition to these sanctuaries, New Zealand and Vanuatu have legislations in place that protects whales within their territorial waters while whales in the Kingdom of Tonga are protected by a Royal decree from the King.

To Japan, we say we love you but whaling breaks our heart. In Japan, after World War II whales were an important source of animal protein as meat was very scarce. These beautiful mammals saved the Japanese population from starvation and provided an important source of protein. Today the whales need Japan for its survival.

The Japanese government considers this an issue of national interest. But what is public opinion in Japan on the issue?

Most people outside of Japan tend to think the Japanese public supports whaling. And indeed, the Japanese government sometimes claims that 90 per cent of Japanese people want commercial whaling to resume. However, this is not true.

The Japanese public knows very little about its government's whaling program. A 2006 survey commissioned by Greenpeace Japan shows 92per cent of the Japanese public do not know their government is killing more than 900 whales, some of which are endangered, in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Also, more than 95per cent of Japanese people either have never eaten or very rarely eat whale meat. This is particularly true of younger Japanese people. And when asked about whaling in the future, 69per cent people surveyed said they do not support whaling in the high seas.

The Japanese government has consistently claimed the whaling program, which has been going on for more than 20 years, is a lawful activity. Each year, it invests more than 500 million yen worth of Japanese tax dollars (approximately 5 million US dollars) in whaling. The government department responsible for the whaling program (the Fisheries Ministry), the body that manages the program's research activities (the Japan Institute of Cetacean Research) and the whaling vessels' charter company (Kyodo Senpaku) all claim this research is not only legal, but also based on credible science.

And where does the Pacific fit into all of this?

Despite these facts Japan claims whales eat tuna, prompting some Pacific Island countries to fear for their principal resource. In actual fact whales do not pose a threat to tuna. Other fish and humans are tuna's two main predators in the Pacific. Overfishing by humans being the main cause of decreasing tuna stocks.

Pacific Island countries can also generate income from whale watching.

In Tonga alone, the total economic benefit from whale watching is estimated at more than $1 million TOP a year.

Each humpback whale in Tonga's waters brings $30,000TOP in whale watching earnings each year, equalling about a whopping $1.6 million TOP during its 50-year lifetime.

A WWF poll carried out in Palau, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati showed a majority of people were unaware of the IWC, but many were against their country voting for a return to commercial whaling than were for it, and if their country had voted for a return in the past, they think that it should not have done so.

Just as Forum Island countries have united on the regional tuna fishery, they must do so again not only for the benefit of the threatened whales stocks but in order for our oceans to maintain equilibrium in its biodiversity. In complex marine ecosystems, removing whales could result in decreased fisheries capacity.

And Japan, if it is indeed a friend of the Pacific, must support more convincing scientific evidence. Greenpeace's whale tagging results in the Cook Islands are a good starting point. Greenpeace, 12/06/08.