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Japan to continue whale hunting despite IWC warning

Saturday, 20 June 2015 3:36 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 20 June 2015 3:36 PM ]

The file photo shows a whale hunted by a Japanese ship. (AFP photo)

Japan says it will continue its whale hunting program despite calls by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for Tokyo to verify that the move serves scientific purposes.

The IWC says Japan should present more information to prove its whale hunting program is in fact for scientific study.

Tokyo’s commissioner to the global conservation body, Joji Morishita, told reporters late Friday that his country is willing to answer any questions regarding its whaling program, but that its plans to hunt them will not be changed.

Morishita said that as far as scientific points are being raised, Tokyo will “respond with sincerity as much as possible.”

“There has been no change to our plan,” he added.

His comments come after the IWC accused Japan of failing to provide enough details to explain the scientific basis of its NEWREP-A proposal, a whale hunting program recently submitted by Japan to the IWC. The program reportedly targets 3,996 minke whales in the Antarctic over the next 12 years.

Morishita also said Japan would “conduct additional analyses” to gain more support from the IWC.

This file photo taken in 2014 shows Japanese Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (C), accompanied by lawmakers, eating whale meat. (AFP photo)

In 2014, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Tokyo should refrain from issuing new permits for Antarctic whaling and revoke all old ones.

Tokyo announced afterwards that it will continue to hunt whales in the Pacific Ocean and near the Japanese coast, to which the ICJ’s ruling does not apply.

Tokyo argues that minke whales and other species are plentiful, and the country’s whaling activities are sustainable and carried out for scientific reasons.

Meanwhile, critics have condemned the annual hunt as a cover for commercial whaling.

In the 2013 and 2014 whaling season, Japan killed 251 minke whales in the Antarctic.

In recent years, the whale environmental group, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has sent ships to the Antarctic to block Japan’s whale hunting fleet, turning increasing media attention to the hunts.

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