Some whaling nations urge Japan not to expand activities

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Some whaling nations urge Japan not to expand

activities

Tue May 7,10:59 AM ET

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - A group of member countries of the

International Whaling Commission (news - web sites)

(IWC) on Tuesday urged Japan not to expand its whaling

programme, underscoring the stiff opposition to

Japanese attempts to end the whaling ban.

 

Japan, which conducts what it calls scientific

research whaling, has long pushed for the lifting of

the 16-year ban on commercial whaling and hopes to win

backing at a meeting of the 43-member IWC now under

way in the southwestern Japanese city of Shimonoseki.

 

The issue has sparked worldwide controversy and 18

members of the IWC issued statement saying they

" strongly reject " Japan's recently announced plans to

expand research whaling.

 

" As member states of the IWC, our governments consider

Japan's actions as undermining the authority of the

IWC, and as designed to undo the decades of progress

that have achieved the substantial level of protection

that whales enjoy today, " they said in a statement

released by the U.S. Embassy.

 

" Our governments reaffirm their strong commitment to

the conservation of whales, while at the same time

rejecting commercial whaling, " they said.

 

Japan and fellow whaler Norway 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.

 

Japan has raised a furore by announcing plans to

expand its research whaling programme to include sei

whales, said by conservationists to be endangered.

 

Signs of the controversy were apparent when Japanese

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Australia and

New Zealand this month to be greeted by Greenpeace

protesters carrying banners urging him to " Save face,

stop whaling " .

 

Under the plan that Japan has submitted to 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.

 

" The programme represents a major expansion of Japan's

whaling operations, " said Tuesday statement from the

18 IWC members, including Australia, Brazil, France,

Germany, Britain and the United States.

 

The note was handed to Shigeo Uetake, Japan's senior

vice foreign minister.

 

Japan's whaling plan has sparked criticism from

environmental groups such as the World Wide Fund for

Nature, which considers the 12 to 17 metre

pointed-snout sei whales an endangered species.

 

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line

with an IWC moratorium, but began what it calls

scientific research whaling the following year.

 

 

 

 

 

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