Japan vows to push for return to commercial whaling

Japan today vowed to press ahead with a campaign to overturn a two-decade ban on commercial whaling, after a slim majority of nations in the International Whaling Commission voted to overturn the moratorium.

Japan and supporters in the Caribbean and Africa passed the symbolic IWC resolution by a 33-32 vote in St Kitts yesterday, although pro-whaling nations still lack the 75 percent majority needed to end the ban.

“Japan will continue to do its best to achieve the normalisation of the IWC as an organisation that manages whale resources, as well as a resumption of scientifically based, sustainable whaling,” said Shoichi Nakagawa, Japan’s minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

“Harsh reactions from anti-whaling countries are expected, and we think that pro-whaling nations should unite to get through this difficult state,” said vice minister Mamoru Ishihara.

Japan, Norway, Iceland, Russia and other whaling nations are attempting to return the IWC to its roots as a group that manages world whale populations, rather than trying to prevent all killing of whales.

Japan maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture. It says whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 to allow a resumption of limited hunts of certain species.