Japan Criticized for Scientific Research Whaling at International Meeting

May 29, 04:42 PM

Current Headlines: Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

[By Takaki Tominaga]

Anchorage, Alaska, May 28 Kyodo - The anti-whaling bloc criticized Japan's research whaling Monday as the International Whaling Commission began a four-day annual meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.

The IWC plans to discuss Japan's small-scale coastal whaling proposal Tuesday morning.

On the first day of the meeting, New Zealand and Australia, particularly, appealed Japan to drop a plan to take 50 humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere as part of its scientific whaling programme starting this November.

"It is New Zealand's view that Japan may have underestimated the extent to which the hunting of humpbacks will be seen as a deeply provocative action by the people of New Zealand," said Chris Carter, conservation minister of New Zealand.

"I am asking Japan to drop humpback...as a gesture of goodwill to the New Zealand people," Carter said.

Joji Morishita, representative of the Japanese delegation, said Japan is trying to make its decision and judgment on a scientific basis but it also understands the special feeling of some of the nations towards some of the species.

More of the mutual understanding and dialogue is necessary for this issue and Japan is open for dialogue about this particular issue also, he said.

As for the United States, one of their top priorities for this year's meeting is the renewal of the bowhead subsistence whaling quotas through 2012 for native people in the North American coastal areas.

Speaking at the beginning of the meeting, US Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican from Alaska, said he defends the Alaska natives' right to sustainably harvest bowhead whales.

"It is more than a right - it is an absolute necessity which affects every facet of their well-being. To deny this history would jeopardize their way of life," Stevens said.

After his address, a native Alaskan group demonstrated a traditional whale hunting dance, appealing for the five-year subsistence whaling quotas.

Another focus of the session was about whale stocks identified in the scientific committee's report in the previous year, such as Southern Hemisphere humpback whales, Antarctic minke whales, and western North Pacific common minke whales and gray whales.

The IWC showed serious concern about the number of minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean, of which 760,000 were reported to exist in the late 1990s but there is no consensus assumption regarding its current population.

The IWC concluded that it will continuously do research to obtain the estimated number of the species before the next annual meeting through workshops and the midterm session.

On the second day of the meeting, Japan, one of the three pro- whaling countries along with Iceland and Norway, is expected to request quotas for hunting limited numbers of minke whales in Japan's coastal waters, with the meat and other products from the whales to be used exclusively for local consumption, similar to quotas allowed to some indigenous groups such as Alaska natives.

The proposal would allow whaling communities in Japan to revive traditional and local practices associated with whale meat and to revitalize traditional festivals and rituals, the Japanese government insists.

Japan has tried to get quotas for more than 20 years but has so far been unsuccessful.

At the Conference for the Normalization of the International Whaling Commission held in February in Tokyo, participating pro- whaling countries said there was a "double standard" in IWC policy.

Japan may also seek the adoption of a resolution or recommendation from the IWC to discourage the type of harassment directed against its "JARPA II" research whaling activities during 2006 and 2007, according to the annotated provisional agenda.

Japan stopped commercial whaling in line with the 1986 IWC moratorium but has been hunting whales since 1987 for what it calls scientific research purposes.

At last year's IWC meeting, a symbolic resolution to overturn a 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling passed but fell short of capturing a 75 per cent majority to formally end the moratorium.

It is unlikely that there will be enough support to end the ban during the IWC meeting.

Several pro-moratorium members have joined the commission since then, bringing the membership to 76, and the anti-whaling bloc is expected to regain the majority again.

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