Japan could scale down 'scientific' whaling

10 Feb 2010, 8:34 pm   -   Source: AFP
5 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
5
Japan will propose scaling down its troubled annual whale hunt in Antarctica on condition it is allowed to whale commercially in its own coastal waters.

Japan will propose scaling down its troubled annual whale hunt in Antarctica on condition it is allowed to whale commercially in its own coastal waters.

Japan will propose scaling down its troubled annual whale hunt in Antarctica on condition it is allowed to whale commercially in its own coastal waters.

RELATED

Japan will propose scaling down its troubled annual whale hunt in Antarctica on condition it is allowed to whale commercially in its own coastal waters.
  
Tokyo will present its proposal to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at its annual meeting in Morocco in June, the official said, even though a similar plan was rejected by the 85-nation body last year.
  
"We have been studying ways to reach a packaged agreement and to normalise the IWC activities," said the Fisheries Agency official, who declined to provide specific details of Tokyo's proposal. "The efforts continue today."
  
Japanese whalers kill hundreds of the mammals a year in Antarctic waters, where their fleet has repeatedly clashed in recent months with militant environmental activists of the Sea Shepherd society.
  
Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide since 1986, but Japan justifies its hunts as scientific research, while not hiding the fact that the whale meat is later sold in shops and restaurants.
  
The Sea Shepherds said they exchanged water cannon blasts with Japanese fishermen Monday and accused the whalers of ramming their vessel, the Bob Barker, two days earlier, leaving a metre (three-foot) long gash in its stern.
  
Last month, the group's futuristic powerboat Ady Gil was sliced in two and sank after a collision with one of the Japanese ships, leading both Australia and New Zealand to call for restraint on all sides.
  
At last year's IWC talks, anti-whaling countries rejected Japan's offer to scale down its south Pacific culls if it is allowed to commercially hunt 150 minke whales a year in its coastal waters.
  
Agriculture Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu this month said he would like to submit the proposal personally at the IWC, and that Japanese officials were already in talks with other nations on reaching a compromise.
  
"If possible, I myself would go to an IWC meeting and propose and demand approval for the commercial catching of minke whales along Japanese coasts," he said last week, saying Japan was ready for some compromises.
  
The IWC was set up in 1946 by 15 whale-hunting nations to manage a whale population threatened by the fishing industry. The body now has 85 members and has taken an increasingly conservationist approach.
  
In 1986, it instituted a ban on commercial whaling that still stands today.
  
The body has been deadlocked in recent years by divisions between countries such as Japan that say the dangers of whaling are exaggerated and other nations like Australia which want the whaling ban to be kept in place.
 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

Catastrophic exploitation

Bob Oort - from Georgica NSW, 2 years ago

Japan's whaling for science was a blatant lie from day one. Their whaling in prohibited waters was a blatant crime. To stop Japan from whaling in their own waters may prove a futile exercise as it will come down to an argument over wildlife culling, slaughter for food, exploitation for science etc. in every place on Earth. What should be pursued is the environmental impact wildlife exploitation poses to a world besieged by one catastrophe after another. We all need to change our habits.

whales

oncewas - from bribie island, 2 years ago

why stop japan? if they like the taste of whales why not eat them. we like the taste of sheep cattle fish crabs chooks fish etc and we don't ban the slaughter of them. apologies to true vegetarians.

A Workable Compromise

R.A.R. Clouston - from USA, 2 years ago

Brave but divisive acts on the high seas, and bluster and bombast on the safe side of the shore will never stop the killing. This is no longer about the tragic slaughter of a thousand whales each year in the Southern Ocean. It has devolved into what the Japanese government sees as an imperialistic assault upon their culture. Allowing them to whale commercially in their coastal waters, although not ideal, seems to provide the Japanese with a way to save face and gracefully leave the Southern Ocean for good. It is also consistent with what the IWC allows Norway and Iceland to do. Until the day that all whaling everywhere by everyone ends, this compromise should be seriously considered.

There was no "research" whaling anyway

Eco Lady - from Melbourne Vic, 2 years ago

Thanks to the inaction of our Federal government, Japan has the audacity to choose when and if they will scale back their slaughter. When do criminals get the luxury of this choice? If Kevin Rudd enacted on his pre-election promises, it would have been stopped as it should have been during Howard's government. The whole whale poaching exercise was a marketing ploy, to defy the International Whaling Commission's "paper tiger", the ban on commercial whaling.

Good sense

J r. Bond - from Canada, 2 years ago

In my opinion there should be no compromise just keep the ban in effect,anyway world wide opinion is gaining on them.

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.