Japan to increase 'scientific' whaling
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
(Filed: 19/06/2006)
telegraph.co.uk
Japan is to allow its whaling fleet to catch more of two endangered species after its efforts to have a temporary ban on commercial whaling lifted were frustrated.
Tokyo confirmed that it will increase its catch in the Southern Ocean this year to 935 minke and 10 fin whales.
The Japanese fleet will kill another 40 fin and 50 humpbacks - species listed as endangered by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) - in the following two years under a loophole that permits "scientific" whaling. Humpbacks have an estimated population of 10,000 in the Southern Ocean.
The British whaling commissioner, Richard Cowan, said Britain would protest over the decision but added that under the UN's whaling treaty Japan had the right to kill whales for scientific purposes.
"They say it's necessary for stock assessment but we believe they could find out all they need to know by non-lethal means," he said.
"They have stocks of whale meat coming out of their ears and we understand they are putting it into pet food because they can't sell it for anything else."
Japan's decision came after it suffered a string of defeats at the 70-member IWC's annual meeting over the weekend in the Caribbean state of St Kitts and Nevis. Pro-whaling countries lost their third vote in a row on Saturday, due to China and South Korea's refusal to support a proposal to allow fishermen in Taiji, a coastal community in south-east Japan, to hunt minke whales.
In a stinging defeat for Tokyo, the proposal, which needed a three-quarter quorum to pass, failed by one vote to win even a simple majority. Four countries that were expected to side with Japan - China, South Korea, the Solomon Islands, and Kiribati - unexpectedly abstained.
The Japanese had hoped for more support from small countries in the Pacific and Caribbean with no whaling interests but a need for development aid.
Joji Morishita, of the Japanese delegation, said before the vote: "We are glad this is not a secret vote. Japan will remember which countries supported this proposal and which countries said no."
The five-day meeting ends tomorrow. |
