It seems that Japan intends to kill 4.000 minke whales over the next 12 years. But the IWC’s scientific committee says that Japan has failed to bring enough evidence to support this activity.
Despite the fact that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) claims that Japan has not proved that whales need to be killed for researcher Japan will resume whale hunting in Antarctic.
On Friday the Scientific Committee of the IWC said that they were not able to establish whether lethal sampling is necessary for the management and conservation of the whale stock. In April a panel of experts made similar remarks about a Japanese Antarctic whaling plan that Japan’s earlier hunts were not really scientific.
In 1986 Japan was killing whales for research purposes at a time when the IWC banned commercial whaling. In 2014 Japan organized a nonlethal expedition to Antarctic.
Joji Morishita,, IWC’ commissioner for Japan, said that the debate regarding whether Japan should kill whales or not is no longer just a scientific matter, but it has turned into a political one.
It seems that Japan intends to kill 4.000 minke whales over the next 12 years. But the IWC’s scientific committee says that Japan has failed to bring enough evidence to support this activity. The country’s revised proposal for whale hunts is approximately one-third of the pervious target, meaning the killing of 111 minke whales every year between the years 2015 and 2027.
It was also claimed that the fact that the meat from killed whales is processed into food is not a secret and the whale population is large enough to permit sustainable whaling.
Morishita said that the report itself had no clear conclusion, claiming that this is due to the fact that the IWC is not a unitary organization, but a divided one. According to him the division of the organization is to blame for the fact that the committee has a difficult time when they have to draw a conclusion.
On Friday Morishita said that they will offer additional data in order to support their argument and that in this winter season Japan still intends to resume whaling in the Antarctic.
The country does not need the approval of the IWC to continue with the lethal sampling hunt because ultimately the countries can decide individually to emit permits for whaling for scientific reasons. However it is odd because Tokyo always seems to strictly stick to international rules.
Image Source: Sky News
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