UN court orders Japan to stop Antarctic whaling
Print Edition
JUDGES at the highest UN court ordered Japan yesterday to halt whaling in the Antarctic, rejecting the country’s long-held argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not primarily for human consumption.
Tokyo said it was disappointed but would abide by the decision. Activists said they hoped the ruling would bring closer an end to whaling worldwide.
The International Court of Justice sided with plaintiff Australia in finding that the scientific output of the whaling programme did not justify the number of whales killed.
The tribunal said no further licences should be issued for scientific whaling, where animals are first examined for research purposes before the meat is sold to consumers.
“In light of the fact the JARPA II (research program) has been going on since 2005, and has involved the killing of about 3,600 minke whales, the scientific output to date appears limited,” Presiding Judge Peter Tomka of Slovakia said.
Japan signed a 1986 moratorium on whaling, but has continued to hunt up to 850 minke whales a year in the Southern Ocean, as well as smaller numbers of fin and humpback whales, citing a 1946 treaty that permits killing the giant mammals for research.
Japan was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, but it would comply, said Koji Tsuruoka, the country’s chief lawyer before the court. He said the government would study the ruling before taking any further action.
Judges agreed with Australia that the research — two peer reviewed papers since 2005, based on results obtained from just nine killed whales — was not proportionate to the number of animals killed.
Tokyo could continue whaling if it devised a new, more persuasive scientific program that required a “lethal catch” of whales, or withdrew from the whaling moratorium or the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
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