Japan will host an international conference next week to push its campaign to allow commercial whaling, but some of the world's most influential anti-whaling nations -- including the United States -- plan to boycott the meeting.
TOKYO -- Japan will host an international conference next week to push its campaign to allow commercial whaling, but some of the world's most influential anti-whaling nations -- including the United States -- plan to boycott the meeting.
Tokyo, which has waged a long struggle to resume commercial whaling, says the Feb. 13-15 conference is needed to reform the International Whaling Commission, which Japan argues is meant to regulate hunts rather than ban them outright.
"The IWC is in a very critical situation, so I think our approach is one of the last resorts to rescue it," said Fisheries Agency official Hideki Moronuki. "The IWC might collapse, and that would be the real tragedy."
Japan invited all 72 commission members to the meeting, but Britain immediately announced it would not attend, and many other anti-whaling nations -- including Australia, New Zealand and the United States -- followed suit.
Moronuki refused to disclose which nations would be represented at the meeting, citing security reasons, but said "about half or little more than half of IWC member countries" were expected to show up.
Critics said the conference appeared to be aimed at promoting a resumption of commercial whaling.
"The clear intention of the meeting is to limit the agenda of the International Whaling Commission to consumptive use," said Richard Wilson, a spokesman for the Australian Department of the Environment and Water Resources.
"Australia is deeply concerned about this meeting by pro-whaling interests," he added.
A global moratorium on commercial whaling has existed since 1986, but Japan regularly kills hundreds of whales each year under a scientific whaling program conducted within the commission's rules.
Tokyo maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture, arguing that whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 to allow a resumption of limited hunts among certain species.
Pro-whaling countries, which include Norway and Iceland, have complained that the IWC has become an organization devoted to preventing whale hunts.
"We want to see if there is anything we can do to return the IWC to its goal of being a resource management organization," said Halvard Johansen, a senior adviser for the Norwegian Fisheries Ministry.
Moronuki denied that the conference would call for resumption of commercial whaling but that it would merely focus on reforming the commission. He also criticized anti-whaling countries for boycotting the meeting, adding that their absence could sap its legitimacy.
Britain is "leading the confrontation, and it is extremely regrettable," he said. Britain, a staunch opponent of whaling, is trying to recruit more anti-whaling countries to join the commission.
Environmental group Greenpeace member Junichi Sato said the commission has so far proven to be incapable of resolving the whaling dispute, and proposed an awareness-raising campaign inside and outside Japan.
"While the Japanese government is pushing hard for commercial whaling, most Japanese don't know or care about it ... but many people outside Japan think Japanese are whale eaters," he said. "I think it's time for both sides to stop and think calmly."
For the fiscal year ending March 2007, Japan said it will have caught about 1,460 whales from around Antarctica, Pacific Ocean waters northwest of Japan, and Japan's coastline.
Source: Associated Press
Contact Info:
