Japan to renew bid for Antarctic whaling

Just months after an international court ruled against Japan's 'research' whaling program, Prime Minister Abe has backed a new approach that advocates say will have demonstrable scientific value.

|
Issei Kato/Reuters
Japan's Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission Joji Morishita attends a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo June 10, 2014.

Just three months after it was forced to cancel the jewel in the crown of its “research” whaling program, Japan is preparing to return to the Antarctic in search of whales, promising a new approach that will not only be of demonstrable scientific value but will pave the way toward a resumption of commercial whaling.

Environmental groups celebrated in late March when the International Court of Justice [ICJ] in The Hague ruled that Japan’s “research” whaling program was in fact a cover for a commercial venture.

But this week, Joji Morishita, Japan’s commissioner to the International Whaling Commission [IWC], claimed his compatriots felt backed into a corner by anti-whaling nations – and is pushing to send the whaling fleet back to the Southern Ocean.

“Whaling is criticized sometimes as evil, barbaric, or inhumane, and that there is no place for it in the 21st century,” Morishita said. “We see that often. If you are living in Japan, you feel like this is an attack with no legitimate reason.

“Even if some countries thinks that whales are special or sacred, as long as whales are sustainably utilized, that view should not be imposed on others who like to utilize whale resources."

Japan has been able to exploit a loophole in the IWC moratorium to continue killing more than 900 whales every winter for what it insisted was research into their breeding, migratory, and other habits.

The ICJ, however, said Japan had failed to demonstrate that the Antarctic hunts – the meat from which is sold legally in restaurants and supermarkets – had any scientific value. 

Japan agreed to abide by the ruling and canceled the 2014-15 Antarctic hunt. Its much smaller scientific whaling program in the northwest Pacific continues, while the killing of smaller whale species in coastal waters is not covered by the IWC ban.

But Japan’s whaling lobby has regrouped. A revised program could be submitted to the IWC as early as the end of the year, ahead of the body’s next meeting in May 2015, according to Morishita. Some believe it will reflect criticism that the Antarctic hunt involves killing too many whales.

"I feel like now that [ICJ’s] decision is actually good for Japan," Morishita said. "[The] assumption of the court is that Japan could, maybe, look at the new research plan and that it’s OK for Japan to propose a new plan which involves the killing of whales as long as that is meeting or that take account of the reasoning and conditions of the ICJ decision."

The effort has won the support of high-profile politicians, notably Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Their aim: an eventual return to sustainable commercial whaling.

"While respecting international law and scientific facts, it is necessary to continue the scientific whaling to get data needed on stocks in order to properly manage cetacean resources, so that it is then possible to look into restarting commercial whaling,” Abe told members of parliament this week. “I will step up efforts further to gain the understanding of the international community.”

Australia immediately called on Japan to respect the ICJ’s ruling, while New Zealand’s foreign minister, Murray McCully, described Abe’s comments as “unfortunate and unhelpful.” 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Japan to renew bid for Antarctic whaling
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2014/0611/Japan-to-renew-bid-for-Antarctic-whaling
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe