Japan鈥檚 plan to restart its whaling programme just got harpooned. From now on it will have to work much harder to convince the world that its 鈥渟cientific whaling鈥� should be allowed to continue.
That鈥檚 the upshot of a resolution passed yesterday at the (IWC) in Portoroz, Slovenia.
Commercial whaling has been banned by the IWC since 1986, but countries can apply for exemptions if they have aboriginal people who rely on whaling, or if they are killing whales for research purposes. Japan has long continued killing whales by arguing that it is for scientific research, to the disgust of conservationists who believe this is just a front for commercial whaling.
Advertisement
Proposed by New Zealand, and by 35 votes to 20, the new will enforce much stricter criteria on any application to conduct scientific whaling.
Not actually science
The resolution reinforces a March ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Japan鈥檚 scientific whaling programme in Antarctica between 2005 and 2014 was illegal. The court said the programme, dubbed JARPAII, was 鈥溾��.
The New Zealand resolution builds on that by forcing the IWC to judge any future scientific whaling applications by the same standards the court used to reach its judgement. In particular, the IWC鈥檚 scientific committee will no longer be able to decide for itself whether to allow a permit. Instead it will have to defer all its decisions to the full commission.
鈥淚f carried through properly, this resolution will have dramatic effects on scientific whaling for years to come,鈥� says of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a charity in Chippenham, UK.
In future, Japan will need to convince the IWC not only that any scientific whaling programme is 鈥渟cience鈥�, but also that it is 鈥渞easonable鈥�. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just whether science is being done, but whether it鈥檚 science that furthers the interests of the IWC and gives information that鈥檚 genuinely useful in terms of whale conservation in the future,鈥� says Butler-Stroud. Also, all non-lethal options for getting information 鈥� like DNA biopsies 鈥� will now need to be exhausted before granting permission to kill whales.
鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted by this crucial victory for whales,鈥� says Patrick Ramage of the . 鈥淭he measure goes a long way in securing the full promise of the ICJ judgement, which gives whales in Antarctica protection against slaughter for the first time in more than a century.鈥�
Not quite over yet
A Japanese to allow four coastal communities to catch 17 minke whales was also defeated, by 39 votes to 19.
But . It announced earlier this year that it will draft a new scientific whaling programme, dubbed JARPAIII. This should comply with the new restrictions and allow scientific whaling to resume in the Antarctic, possibly as soon as the end of 2015.
Conservation groups condemned that plan. 鈥淭he majority of IWC members want to implement the ICJ鈥檚 decision and stop all circumventions of the ban on commercial whaling,鈥� says of Humane Society International. 鈥淛apan voted no, and in a venal parting shot stated that its whalers will return to the Southern Ocean Sanctuary next year to resume what the world sees as a discredited, lethal scientific whaling programme.鈥�
鈥淲e now urge Japan to call a permanent end to its illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean,鈥� says Ramage.
