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05/31/2007 09:58:07 AM
 Anchorage, 30th May 2007
The
International Whaling Commission (IWC) has made a resounding condemnation of
Japan’s scientific whaling programme in Antartica which recently doubled to
target over 850 minke and 50 endangered fin whales a year and plans to add 50
humpbacks later this year.
Japan currently allocates its whalers annual
research quotas for 10 sperm whales, 100 sei, 50 Bryde’s and 120 minke whales in
the North Pacific, and up to 935 minkes and 10 fin whales in the Southern Ocean
Sanctuary in Antarctica.
The resolution was adopted at the 59th Annual
Meeting of the IWC which takes place in Alaska this week, with 40 votes in
favour and two against. Twenty eight countries recruited by Japan to support its
quest to resume commercial whaling did not participate in the vote.
The
resolution recalls that the IWC has repeatedly called on Japan to desist from
issuing permits to conduct lethal research on whales that are protected from
commercial whaling; notes that the research conducted during its last phase did
not meet any of its goals; does not meet any critically important research needs
and could have been conducted by non-lethal means anyway. It concludes by
calling on the government of Japan to address 31 outstanding recommendations
from the Scientific Committee and to suspect indefinitely the lethal aspects of
the research.
Sue Fisher of WDCS goes further than this. “This hunt
under the guise of science is a joke, but sadly it is not funny. It is clearly
being conducted for commercial purposes, despite a declining market in Japan for
whale meat and thousands of tons of meat from previous hunts stuck in
stockpiles. WDCS commends the IWC for adopting this resolution but urges the
parties to tell it like it really is, stop being polite, and condemn Japan for
conducting commercial whaling”
Back to IWC 59 Updates
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