S. Korea whaling plan draws protests
Source: Agencies |
July 6, 2012, Friday
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SOUTH Korea plans to resume hunting whales for research purposes, officials said yesterday, drawing immediate protests from non-whaling nations and environment groups that suspect the plans may be a cover for commercial whaling.
South Korean officials conveyed the plan to the International Whaling Commission during an IWC meeting this week in Panama, according to Seoul's Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The whaling would be aimed only at studying the types and amounts of fish whales eat as fishermen complain an increasing number of whales are consuming large amounts of fish stocks, ministry officials said.
The IWC gives member states sovereign rights to scientific whaling but South Korea will still give up its whaling plans if the international organization rejects them, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
Environmental groups decried the South Korean plans as a back-door effort to make the country only the fourth to allow commercial whaling, which has been banned since 1986. Various exceptions have allowed Japan, Iceland and Norway to hunt whales anyway. Indigenous groups in several countries also hunt whales as allowed under international rules.
Japan claims its hunts are for research purposes, though the meat from the killed whales mostly ends up in restaurants, stores and school lunches. South Korean officials said they haven't determined what to do with the whale meat following the studies.
South Korean officials conveyed the plan to the International Whaling Commission during an IWC meeting this week in Panama, according to Seoul's Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The whaling would be aimed only at studying the types and amounts of fish whales eat as fishermen complain an increasing number of whales are consuming large amounts of fish stocks, ministry officials said.
The IWC gives member states sovereign rights to scientific whaling but South Korea will still give up its whaling plans if the international organization rejects them, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
Environmental groups decried the South Korean plans as a back-door effort to make the country only the fourth to allow commercial whaling, which has been banned since 1986. Various exceptions have allowed Japan, Iceland and Norway to hunt whales anyway. Indigenous groups in several countries also hunt whales as allowed under international rules.
Japan claims its hunts are for research purposes, though the meat from the killed whales mostly ends up in restaurants, stores and school lunches. South Korean officials said they haven't determined what to do with the whale meat following the studies.
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