Japan Agrees to Suspend Killing 50 Humpback Whales

Japan Agrees to Suspend Killing 50 Humpback Whales



January 2008  - The government of Japan has agreed 
to suspend its plans to kill 50 humpback whales this year but only on 
condition that the International Whaling Commission, IWC, reinstates its 
original task of whale resource management. 

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference today 
that William Hogarth of the United States, chair of the commission, who 
arrived in Japan on Tuesday, proposed to Japan's Fisheries Agency that 
humpback whaling be suspended, the Kyodo News Service reports. 
The Japanese whaling fleet sailed for the Southern Ocean in November, 
planning to hunt about 850 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpbacks 
until mid-April under a provision of the Convention on Whaling that allows 
IWC member governments to set their own quotas for scientific or research 
whaling. This season's quota is Japan's largest. 
Japan has set a whale hunt quota every year since the IWC imposed a global 
moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. The moratorium was put in place 
to give whales a period of recovery after more than a century of whaling 
brought several species to the brink of extinction. 

 
Today, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi 
told reporters that the suspension on hunting humpbacks is subject to "the 
condition that the operations of the IWC be normalized as it is not 
functioning normally as a resources management body in the face of 
emotional clashes." 
The IWC members have divided into a pro-whaling faction and an 
anti-whaling faction. In recent years, votes at IWC meetings have been 
narrowly won, with the anti-whaling group usually turning back proposals 
made by Japan and other pro-whaling nations. 
The 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, under 
which the IWC was established, was originally supposed to manage a whaling 
industry. "The purpose of the Convention is to provide for the proper 
conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly 
development of the whaling industry," the IWC states on its website. 
After the moratorium was set, the IWC began to develop the Revised 
Management Procedure, which it describes as "a scientifically robust 
method of setting safe catch limits for certain stocks (groups of whales 
of the same species living in a particular area) where the numbers are 
plentiful." 
There has been pressure from Japan, Norway and Iceland to remove the 
moratorium for certain stocks of minke whales. 
But the IWC says that before the Revised Management Procedure is 
implemented and the moratorium on commercial whaling lifted, "an 
inspection and observation scheme must be in place to ensure that agreed 
catch limits are not exceeded." 
At this point discussions remain at an impasse. 
Japan's decision to suspend the pursuit of humpback whales comes after 
Australia's new government said Wednesday that it would send a ship and 
aircraft to monitor Japanese whaling activities in the Australian Whale 
Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean. The Australians said they would 
diplomatic and legal steps to stop the Japanese whale hunt entirely. 
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura conveyed Japan's decision to halt 
humpback whaling to his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith in a 
telephone conversation today. 

Komura told reporters Smith said Australia welcomes the move but continues 
to call for a halt to all Japanese whaling activities, Kyodo reports. 
When asked how long the suspension will continue, Komura said, ''What 
Chairman Hogarth requested was one to two years. From the Japanese 
government's point of view, [the suspension will continue until] Japan can 
conclude that the [IWC discussion] process is moving back on track.'' 
While Dr. Hogart is the present chair of the IWC, the vice-chair is Minoru 
Morimoto, who heads the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo. 
Whale conservation groups say the suspension is a good move, but a 
complete halt to Japanese whaling is needed. 
"This is happy news for 50 humpback whales but Japan's whaling continues 
to expand," said Patrick Ramage, Global Whale Program Manager with the 
International Fund for Animal Welfare. 
"Withdrawing wild threats to kill humpbacks isn't enough, Japan needs to 
stop whaling and join the emerging global consensus for whale 
conservation," he said. 
Greenpeace said, "The news that humpback whales will be spared this season 
from Japanese harpooners is a victory for Greenpeace supporters all over 
the world who have joined with us in demanding action from their 
governments, participated in promoting non-lethal alternatives to whale 
research." 

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