Japan urged to stop research whaling

The International Whaling Commission urged Japan to drop plans to more than double the whales it hunts per year for scientific research, passing an Australia-sponsored resolution today saying Tokyo shouldn’t kill the whales to study them.

Anti-whaling nations at the commission’s annual meeting in Ulsan, South Korea, took issue with Japan’s announcement earlier in the week that it would boost is annual take of minke whales from 440 to as many as 935 next year.

The nations passed a resolution, in a 30-27 vote, saying the plan should be withdrawn unless the research can be conducted without killing the whales.

The US has criticised the decision to expand the research hunts, saying scientific advances make it unnecessary to kill whales to study them.

“There’s no justification for lethally based science,” said Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell.