"Proposal aims to allow limited commercial whaling" by Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press | April 24, 2010
TOKYO — Japan cautiously welcomed an International Whaling Commission proposal yesterday that would effectively allow the resumption of commercial whaling for the first time in 25 years, though under strict quotas that the commission argues will reduce the global catch of the mammals.
Despite a 1986 moratorium on whaling, Japan, Norway, and Iceland catch whales for various purposes sanctioned by the commission, including scientific research, which opponents such as Australia and conservation activists say are a cover for commercial whaling.
The proposal, to be debated at the commission’s meeting in June in Morocco, seeks to strike a compromise between the two sides by allowing whaling nations to hunt without specifying commercial or otherwise — but in lower numbers than are currently allowed. The commission was formed in 1946 to deal with whaling issues and has 88 member countries.
Environmental groups have decried the proposal as a huge step backward. But supporters argue that allowing whaling under strict quotas would be an improvement to the current hunts, over which it has no control.
Japan’s self-imposed annual quota of 935 Antarctic minke whales, which are not endangered, would be lowered to 400 over the next five years, then reduced to 200 for the next five years. The country’s current take of 320 sei and minke whales in coastal waters would be cut to 210.
Tokyo, long the most prominent target of antiwhaling activists, called the draft “significant progress.’’
Environmental groups were quick to criticize the proposal, which they say could lead to an eventual return to the large-scale whaling of the past, which devastated many species.
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