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Japan Pushes for Restart of Commercial Whaling

Thu Apr 25, 6:30 AM ET

By Elaine Lies

 

SHIMONOSEKI, Japan (Reuters) - An international

whaling meeting kicked off on Thursday in a gritty

fishing port in southern Japan, with the hosts hoping

to win backing in their controversial quest for a

resumption of commercial whaling.

 

 

Just a short drive from a fish market where customers

picked over boiled whale and whale bacon, the opening

session of the 43-nation International Whaling

Commission (news - web sites) (IWC) got under way with

the battle drawn along familiar lines.

 

Japan and Norway, as ever, are pressing for an end to

the IWC's ban on commercial whaling, but face a

difficult task in winning the three-quarters majority

vote needed to achieve that.

 

Japanese officials also hope to win more support for

sustainable use of whale species such as minkes, which

they say are numerous.

 

" Before the actual resumption of commercial whaling,

we have to overcome many hurdles, " Joji Morishita,

deputy director of the Fisheries Agency's Far Seas

Fisheries Division, told Reuters.

 

But Morishita said the balance between the two sides

was narrowing steadily.

 

" For a long time, the anti-whaling side has had a

simple majority, but this is changing. The two sides

are in a similar power balance, and the voting is very

close now.

 

" At the Shimonoseki meeting, we'd like a simple

majority, " he said. " If that happens, the message from

the IWC will change substantially. "

 

Nicky Grandy, IWC Secretary, said she hoped progress

would be made on a key management scheme without which

commercial whaling cannot be resumed. " There's a lot

of work to do, " she said.

 

" It's possible, but unlikely, this will be completed

here, " she told reporters. " I hope we can get

countries to work cooperatively and make progress in

various areas. "

 

Scientists leaving the meeting were tight-lipped,

saying only that they were working through numerous

papers. All IWC talks, except for the plenary session,

are not made public.

 

CONTROVERSIAL RESEARCH

 

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line

with an IWC moratorium, but began what it calls

scientific research whaling the following year.

 

Japan has announced plans to expand its research

whaling program to include sei whales, said by

conservationists to be endangered, and this too is

likely to stir controversy.

 

If approved by the IWC, Japan's northern Pacific fleet

hopes to take 150 minkes, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei

whales and 10 sperm whales in the coming season.

 

Seiji Ohsumi, director general of Japan's Institute

for Cetacean Research which oversees the program, was

confident.

 

" This plan is based on scientific principles, " he

said.

 

Already, though, there were hints of conflict.

 

" There are a lot of non-lethal methods of sampling, "

said Vincent Ridoux, a French scientist. " Perhaps more

should be done in this direction to make scientific

whaling more acceptable. "

 

Local authorities had braced for trouble from

anti-whaling protesters in Shimonoseki, a port city

490 miles southwest of Tokyo, but there were no

protests on Thursday.

 

Some in Shimonoseki hope commercial whaling will

resume, remembering boom days when the harbor was full

of fishing boats.

 

" Maybe Shimonoseki would regain some life and the

economy would improve, " said taxi driver Masaji

Yamataka.

 

" It's pretty sad now. "

 

HOW MANY WHALES?

 

A key issue for both sides of the whaling debate is

just how many whales there are. This is especially

true of minkes, which Japan says are no longer in

danger and could be safely hunted.

 

The figure usually quoted is some 760,000 in the

Antarctic -- agreed by the IWC in 1990.

 

" More recent surveys are suggesting slightly lower

numbers, " said Ray Gambell, a British whale biologist

and longtime IWC secretary until he retired two years

ago. " But there are still hundreds of thousands of

minkes. They're pretty abundant. "

 

Japan says the evidence is conflicting, but that any

fall in minkes could be because other whale stocks are

growing.

 

Answers on numbers, though, must wait another year

since a key survey early this year was postponed due

to bad weather.

 

This vagueness angers conservationists.

 

" The issue is not clear, " said Motoji Nagasawa, whale

campaigner at Greenpeace Japan. " While there is even

the slightest danger, no one should be whaling. "

 

The IWC meeting begins with the Minke Whale Assessment

Group, then continues with a meeting of its Scientific

Committee until May 7, followed by sub-committee

meetings.

 

The main plenary session is from May 20 to May 24.

 

2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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