Preservation (protection) or Conservation?
Throughout their commentary Nelissen and van der Velde mis-use the words “protection” and “preservation”. This is both error and bias. For example, in their legal assessment related to the matter of ius standi of Australia, they claim that “The issue at hand is an obligation established for the protection of a collective interest, namely the preservation of whales located in waters beyond national jurisdiction” and that “Should the Court arrive at the merits, it will be in a position to take a stance in environmental protection and to safeguard endangered whale species for present and future generations.” (emphasis added) Further, in their section on IWC’s opinion on JARPA’s scientific value, Nelissen and van der Velde suggest that an important question could be “... whether JARPA II is actually contributing to the preservation of whales in the Antarctic” and that the IWC “... can develop its Regulations for the preservation of whales and the control of whaling” based on advice from its Scientific Committee. (emphasis added)