AFP: Australia Thursday vowed to “vehemently” oppose a new push by Japan to undermine a global moratorium on commercial whaling, and urged like-minded nations to stand firm against Tokyo.
Japan has regularly sought an easing of the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) prohibition on commercial whaling and continues to kill the animals under what it calls a “scientific research” program despite international criticism.
At September’s IWC meeting in Brazil, Tokyo has said it plans to “propose setting a catch quota for species whose stocks are recognized as healthy by the IWC scientific committee.”
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she was concerned by the proposal.
“We strongly support the 30-year global moratorium on commercial whaling and will vehemently oppose any attempts to undermine the processes that support it,” she said. This included “through changed voting regimes or the establishment of catch-limits for commercial whaling.” “At the commission meeting in September, Australia will be calling on like-minded nations to reject Japan’s proposal,” she added.
Hideki Moronuki, an official in charge of whaling at Japan’s fisheries agency, said in June the proposal would not specify which whale species and how many mammals Japan wants to hunt. But he said the IWC classifies several species as no longer depleted.