Greenpeace says idea of sustainable commercial whaling is 'rubbish', while governments say ICJ ban must be respected

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Australia and New Zealand have reacted angrily to a new push by Japan to resume commercial whaling, just months after an international court banned its controversial "scientific" whale hunts in the Southern Ocean.



Australia responded by saying it remained opposed to commercial and scientific whaling, while New Zealand's foreign minister, Murray McCully, described as "worrying" a vow by Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to make efforts to restart commercial whaling despite a ban by the international court of justice (ICJ).

On Monday Abe told a parliamentary committee that he supported a new campaign to collect scientific data he said would prove that whale populations could be properly managed even after a return to their commercial slaughter. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986.

"I want to aim for the resumption of commercial whaling by conducting whaling research in order to obtain scientific data indispensable for the management of whale resources," Abe said. "To that end I will step up efforts to obtain the understanding of the international community."

But Greg Hunt, the Australian environment minister, said: "We believe all parties should respect the outcome of the ICJ case."

New Zealand called on Japan to accept the March ruling by the ICJ in the Hague that found Japan's annual scientific hunts in the Antarctic were commercial ventures masquerading as research.



Greenpeace condemned Abe's comments as "senseless" and "rubbish".

Japan continues to hunt whales for research in the north-west Pacific; hunts of smaller whale species in its coastal waters are not covered by the 1986 ban.

A loophole in the IWC moratorium allowed Japan to kills whales for scientific research and sell meat from the hunts on the open market, despite a dramatic dip in consumption among Japanese consumers since the end of the war.

"While is it not clear precisely what prime minister Abe is proposing in the short term, the fact that he has told a parliamentary committee that he wants to aim towards the resumption of commercial whaling is both unfortunate and unhelpful," McCully, the New Zealand foreign minister, said in a statement.

"The decision of the ICJ laid down clear guidelines for any research whaling activities in the future. As a country that places a high value on its good international citizenship, we hope and expect that Japan will continue to respect the ICJ decision."

Abe and other pro-whaling politicians accuse the west of hypocrisy by opposing the killing of whales while remaining silent on the slaughter of other animals for food.

Japan's fisheries minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told the same parliamentary committee that he regretted the recent decision by the online retailer Rakuten to stop selling whale meat products in light of the ICJ ruling.

Dealing in whale meat, Hayashi said, "does not violate international or domestic laws in any way".

He demonstrated his support for the beleaguered whaling industry by hosting a dinner featuring whale meat to launch a week of events aimed at persuading consumers to eat more of it.

Few Japanese regularly eat whale meat, which was a popular source of protein during the postwar years of austerity. The downturn in consumption has created a stockpile of unsold produce estimated at 5,000 tonnes. The scientific hunts in the Antarctic were heavily subsidised by the Japanese taxpayer.

Japan cancelled its 2014-15 Antarctic hunt after the ICJ ruling and said it would redesign the programme to better demonstrate its scientific value.