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COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA COULD TURN THE TIDE FOR THE WORLD'S WHALES.

Article Excerpt
If whales are still endangered species, Costa Rica and Nicaragua could be crucial in saving them from extinction. Both countries are undergoing internal battles to preserve their votes against lifting a ban in force since 1986 on hunting the animals. Pro-whaling states, Japan, Norway, and Iceland among them, have been gaining ground in recent years, and in last year's voting at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) had almost enough support to overturn the ban. Meanwhile, Costa Rica had lost its right to vote because of arrears in dues to the organization, and a campaign promise to maintain the ban in Nicaragua seemed in jeopardy as the country mulled its relationship with aid-generous Japan.

Neither Costa Rica nor Nicaragua has any interest in whale hunting. For both, whales are worth considerably more alive as tourist attractions and image enhancers than dead. For the whales, Costa Rica is a critical destination. Six of the world's 13 species come to these coastal waters from the farthest ends of the earth to breed. Since 1989, the Parque Nacional Marino Ballena (PNMB) has been the foremost protected area in Latin America for this activity, principally for the humpback, the blue, and the minke whales.

Costa Rica takes a very parental view of the phenomenon. "The whales are born in Costa Rica, they are Costa Rican," says Arturo Carmona, PNMB director. "They travel more than 7,000 km from Antarctica, for example, to feed and then return to have their babies. Therefore, even though they are Ticas, they need passports and diplomatic immunity."

The whales more than pay for their Costa Rican accommodations. Environmental organizations say the tourism industry on the Pacific coast profits handsomely from whale...