Conservationists foil Japan’s bid to resume whaling

A COALITION of conservation-minded nations has managed to thwart Japan’s attempt to form a pro-whaling majority on the International Whaling Commission and reverse the moratorium on commercial hunting that went into effect two decades ago.

Japan and other pro-whaling countries lost their third vote in a row over the weekend at the 70-member commission’s annual meeting on St Kitts, preventing their predicted takeover of the organisation that manages whaling. A proposal to allow fishermen in Taiji, a coastal community in south east Japan, to hunt minke whales was defeated 31-30. It would have needed a 75% majority to be passed, but the failure to win even a simple majority was a stinging defeat for Tokyo.

Four countries that were expected to side with Japan — China, South Korea, the Solomon Islands, and Kiribati — unexpectedly abstained.

Joji Morishita, the spokesman for the Japanese delegation, said shortly before that: “We are glad this is not a secret vote. Japan will remember which countries supported this proposal and which countries said no.”

Japan had proposed the introduction of secret ballots, but that vote, which needed just a simple majority, failed 33-30 on Friday.

Tokyo believes that whale stocks have sufficiently rebounded to levels that would allow regulated hunts of certain species.