'End whaling ban for whales' sake'

A humpback breaks clear of the water: Whalers killed more than 100,000

By BBC News Online's environment correspondent Alex Kirby

Japan says the moratorium on commercial whaling should be lifted - in order to protect whales.

It says this would deter pirate whaling, and would give the International Whaling Commission (IWC) complete control of the hunt.

Asking whaling countries outside the commission to join it is inviting them to join a suicide club

Joji Morishita, Japanese IWC delegation

Japan is one of the countries leading efforts to overturn the commission's moratorium, in force since 1986.

It will argue its case at the IWC annual meeting in London later this month.

The argument that resuming the hunt would be in the whales' own interest comes from a senior member of the Japanese delegation to the IWC, Mr Joji Morishita.

Mr Morishita, of the Japanese Fisheries Agency, told BBC News Online: "At the moment the IWC is dysfunctional.

"Asking whaling countries outside the commission to join it is inviting them to join a suicide club.

Stopping the pirates

"But there are whaling countries that don't belong to it. People in the Philippines, for instance, kill about 20 Bryde's whales a year.

"The Indonesians kill at least 10 sperm whales annually. This is legal whaling. It takes place around their coasts, but it's unregulated.

Sperm whales - now hunted by Japan

"If the IWC ended the moratorium it might get those countries to join, and then it could regulate their catches.

"There's another argument for lifting the ban. The best deterrent for uncontrolled pirate whaling on the high seas is to allow limited whaling under the IWC.

"That would mean whalemeat prices went down, and pirate whaling can survive only when they're high."

The IWC allows some coastal communities in places like Russia, North America and the Caribbean to continue catching small numbers of whales to support their traditional way of life. It calls this "aboriginal whaling".

But it suspended commercial whaling 15 years ago amid fears that some species would not recover from centuries of hunting.

Despite the moratorium, Japan continues to catch whales in the name of scientific research, something the IWC rules allow.

It currently catches around 400 minke whales annually, most in the Antarctic, and 50 Bryde's and 10 sperm whales in the north Pacific.

The only other IWC member to disregard the moratorium is Norway, which catches around 500 minkes a year off its coasts. Norway objected to the ban when it was introduced and so is not bound by it.

Iceland rejoined the IWC last month and says it will resume commercial whaling, perhaps as early as next year.

Independent minds

Japan's critics routinely accuse it of bribing smaller members of the IWC to support it, a charge Joji Morishita rejects. He told BBC News Online: "Japan gives development aid to more than 150 countries. The IWC has just over 40 members.

Gray whale numbers are growing

"Among them are several - India and Argentina, for example - which receive huge amounts of Japanese aid. But they never vote with us.

"We're specifically accused of trying to buy the votes of Caribbean nations. Their most important industries are bananas and tourism.

"If they used their votes as their economy dictates, they'd be voting with the US and Europe, to keep the moratorium.

Scenting success

"Voting with us is certainly not something decided by money."

Mr Morishita believes the IWC will soon accept the arguments for "limited sustainable whaling, not like the bad old days", though he does not think the moratorium will go this year.

He says: "The number of whales we can catch may turn out to be very small.

"But what matters is the principle - respect for science and international law."

Photos courtesy of NOAA