Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resume commercial whaling from next July. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga announced today. Whaling will be limited to Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, he assured.
Japan failed in the IWC in September with a request for a return to commercial whaling. It argued that whale stocks had recovered enough to allow commercial whaling again. Commercial whaling has been internationally banned since 1986.
However, Japan exploits a gap in the agreement that allows whales to be killed for research purposes. The country claims scientific reasons for whaling, but the meat of killed whales is then used for consumption.
