(JP) Opponents gear up to block Japan's push for commercial whaling at IWC

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Opponents gear up to block Japan's push for commercial

whaling at IWC

Wed May 15, 7:49 AM ET

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

 

TOKYO - As officials from around the world prepared

for the final sessions of the annual International

Whaling Commission (news - web sites) conference in

southern Japan, anti-whaling activists renewed their

pledge Wednesday to block Japan's push to resume

commercial whaling.

 

 

Host nation Japan is campaigning hard for the IWC to

lift its worldwide ban on commercial whaling, and the

issue is expected to be the focus of the commission's

plenary meetings next week in Shimonoseki, Japan's

former whaling hub.

 

Among the groups spearheading the drive to stymie

Japan is Greenpeace, which said Wednesday it will

vehemently support a continuation of the ban and also

push for Japan to scrap its research whaling program,

an activity currently allowed under IWC rules.

 

Greenpeace activist Sarah Duthie said opponents would

especially target Japan's pro-whaling argument that

the commercial culling of whales is needed to prevent

the seagoing mammals from overeating fish and reducing

global stocks.

 

" Blaming whales for eating all the fish is like

blaming woodpeckers for deforestation, " Duthie said.

" The big pressure comes from the big fish industry. "

 

Japan's research whaling program is also expected to

face harsh criticism at the IWC from the United States

and Australia, among other countries.

 

Hundreds of whales are killed each year under the

program. Opponents have long claimed it is little more

than a pretext for keeping at least some of Japan's

whaling industry alive despite an international

moratorium on commercial whaling in effect since 1986.

They say Japan's research program is commercial

whaling in disguise because the meat is sold after the

research and most ends up in restaurants.

 

Recently, however, the debate has shifted toward

whether it is necessary to kill the whales for

research, or whether the mammals could be studied

without resorting to lethal methods. That issue has

already been raised at the IWC conference, which

opened April 25 and runs through May 24.

 

Japanese officials say lethal research is needed

because whales must be dissected to determine age,

fertility and feeding patterns. They also contend that

studies indicate minke and Bryde's whales are harming

Japan's fishing industry because of their large

consumption of anchovies.

 

Outside the conference hall, Greenpeace and other

opponents plan a series of rallies to challenge such

claims and promote methods such as DNA analysis and

skin sampling as alternatives to lethal research.

 

This year in the northwest Pacific, Japan plans to

catch 260 whales, including 50 sei whales — the kind

remained untouched for 26 years — up from 246 over the

past two years. Japan also hunts around 400 minkes

annually in the Antarctic.

 

2002 The Associated Press.

 

 

 

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