Japan to seek permission for coastal minke whaling

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020323a4.htm

 

Japan to seek permission for coastal minke whaling

 

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) As in past years, Japan will call

for the resumption of coastal whaling at the upcoming

annual meeting of the International Whaling

Commission, according to a draft agenda obtained

Thursday by Kyodo News.

 

Japan will ask the IWC to allow coastal whaling

communities in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Chiba and Wakayama

prefectures to hunt up to 50 minke whales annually, as

an exceptional case, citing economic distress in these

areas caused by the 1987 ban on commercial whaling,

the document says.

 

In February, Japan expressed its readiness to expand

its " research " whaling program in the North Pacific

Ocean by adding the endangered sei whale to its catch

targets.

 

Under the expanded research program, Japan is also

planning to hunt an additional 50 minke whales a year

in the North Pacific, using small whaling boats.

 

Japan has given up commercial whaling in line with the

IWC ban and turned to whaling for research purposes,

which is allowed under IWC rules.

 

Conservationists call Japan's whaling program a cover

for commercial whaling, noting that the meat of whales

killed in the program is sold for consumption in

Japan.

 

According to the draft agenda compiled by the IWC

secretariat, Japan will also propose introducing a

secret ballot system as part of voting at IWC plenary

sessions.

 

At present, almost all ballots at IWC plenary sessions

are made public.

 

Australia and New Zealand -- two antiwhaling countries

-- will propose making almost all the South Pacific a

whale sanctuary, according to the draft agenda.

 

However, neither the Japanese proposals nor the

sanctuary bid by Australia and New Zealand are likely

to be approved at the IWC meeting, as support from

three-quarters of the voter countries is necessary for

adoption.

 

The effects on human health from the consumption of

chemically contaminated whale meat, and the effects on

whales from whale-watching tours and environmental

destruction, will also be discussed at the IWC

meeting, according to the draft agenda.

 

The IWC gathering is to be held in Shimonoseki in May.

 

The Japan Times: March 23, 2002

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