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Japan has launched a controversial bid to end the ban on commercial whaling, saying that some types of whales have recovered enough to allow the resumption of a "sustainable" hunt .
Representatives from Japan's 70-member delegation to the International Whaling Commission this week [IWC] At a meeting in Florianópolis (Brazil), the moratorium on the 1986 commercial whaling was to be a temporary measure and accused the IWC of abandoning its original purpose – to manage the sustainable use of the whales. global stocks of whales.
"The science is clear: there are certain species of whales whose population is healthy enough to be harvested sustainably," said the Japanese proposal Way Forward. "Japan proposes to create a committee dedicated to sustainable whaling (including commercial whaling and subsistence hunting)."
The proposal called for a change in the IWC's decision-making process to try to end what it called years of intolerance and clash between pro and anti-whaling countries.
This would allow IWC members to adopt catch quotas by a simple majority rather than the current two-thirds majority from 2020 – a change that would facilitate the end of the ban on commercial whaling .
Japan's longstanding criticism of the ban has undermined relations with anti-whaling countries such as Australia and New Zealand, and has accused IWC member countries of have organized previous meetings.
Australia's commitment to protect whales was called into question after the government chose to send Senator Anne Ruston, an Assistant Minister, to the IWC meeting.
"The Australian people have made a clear decision not to believe that whaling is something we should be doing in the 21st century," said Ruston, deputy minister of international development and the Pacific in Florianópolis.
"The argument that we have made from Australia is that we do not want to see whales killed, whether they are killed by commercial whaling, or what we do. call whaling, "says Ruston.
New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has called on the IWC to show leadership. "This is not the time to back down," he said. "New Zealand continues to support the moratorium on commercial whaling. We want the Commission's efforts on whale conservation to be strengthened and not weakened. "
A ban clause in the IWC allows Japan to conduct research research each year and sell whale meat on the open market, although consumption has fallen in recent decades.
Japan has faced criticism earlier this year after reporting that its whaling fleet had killed 122 pregnant whales during its annual search hunt in the Southern Ocean last winter. Of the 333 minke whales caught during the four-month expedition, 181 were women, including 53 miners.
In 2014, the International Court of Justice ordered the cessation of the annual killing of whales in the Southern Ocean, after concluding that the hunts were not, as claimed by the Japanese authorities, intended to the scientific research. Two years later, Japan resumed whaling in the region as part of a reworked program that reduced its catch quota by about two-thirds.
Although Japan is not supposed to get the votes it needs to reform the IWC's decision-making rules, conservation groups have warned against complacency.
"This meeting is critical. The IWC should be a whale conservation organization of the 21st century, not an old whaling club, "said Patrick Ramage, director of the marine program of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "Member countries must remain united and advance the protection of whales, do not let this commission return to the era of commercial whaling."
It was not immediately obvious that IWC members would vote on Japan's proposal. Waiting for Friday at the end of the meeting would give dozens of Japanese officials in Florianópolis more time to put pressure on other delegations – a tactic they have used in the past to thwart protection measures of other marine species.
