Japan asked to spare humpbacks
New Zealand appeals for endangered species to be spared from whale hunt.
“Japan’s position on particular areas like dietary culture is being understood to a certain extent” Hideaki Okada, Japan Fisheries Agency |
But anti-whaling forces say that with the recent addition of several pro-moratorium IWC members, Tokyo‘s influence in the 75-member group is slipping and it remains far from having the three-fourth’s majority needed to scrap the 1986 ban at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting in Alaska next week.
Critics dismiss Japan‘s claim that it hunts whales for scientific research [EPA] |
Japan hunts about 1,000 whales each year in the name of scientific research. It says it sells the whale meat to fund the programme.
While repeatedly denying anti-whaling countries’ accusations that it offers aid to IWC members in return for pro-whaling votes, Japan has also been open about its drive to recruit supporters to the IWC.
Tokyo last week cheered landlocked Laos‘s intention to join, an announcement that came after Japan offered the impoverished South-East Asian country $1m in aid to clear unexploded bombs.
Japan denied any connection to whaling but says it is confident of gaining some sympathy support on its right to hunt the mammals as a whale-meat eating nation, said Hideaki Okada of Japan’s Fisheries Agency.
The IWC meeting follows a tumultuous year in Japanese whaling.
Arguing the commission was politicised and becoming irrelevant, Tokyo hosted an alternative whaling meeting in February, which was boycotted by anti-whaling countries.
The meeting ended with a statement accusing whaling opponents of “imperialism” for imposing the moratorium and threatened to quit the IWC unless it is reformed.