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The IWC has adopted the "St Kitts Declaration", which outlines Japan's case for a return to commercial whaling following a 20 year ban. The win is only symbolic because Japan needed a 75 per cent majority to overturn the ban, and it is a non-binding resolution that has no effect on the existing ban. However, it is still a setback and a reminder to whale-friendly nations that whales are not yet safe.
Japan has increased the number of whales it kills each year through this 'scientific’ loophole. In 2006 the whalers will target 935 minke whales and 10 endangered fin whales. In 2007 Japan will also target 50 humpback whales. The products of this ‘scientific’ whaling ends up chopped and boxed on Japan’s factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, ready to be sold to schools, hospitals and restaurants.
The irony is that Japanese people are not interested in eating whale meat and the market is collapsing. In a 2006 poll commissioned by Greenpeace from the Nippon Research Centre, 69 per cent of people said they did not support high seas whaling.
View the 1999-2006 IWC membership with voting rights graph
Regardless of the IWC outcome, Japan will continue to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary under its "scientific" loophole. As a result Greenpeace will once again return to the Southern Ocean to defend the whales. Japans actions are possible because of a loophole in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which allows unlimited numbers of whales to be killed for scientific research.Japan has increased the number of whales it kills each year through this 'scientific’ loophole. In 2006 the whalers will target 935 minke whales and 10 endangered fin whales. In 2007 Japan will also target 50 humpback whales. The products of this ‘scientific’ whaling ends up chopped and boxed on Japan’s factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, ready to be sold to schools, hospitals and restaurants.
The irony is that Japanese people are not interested in eating whale meat and the market is collapsing. In a 2006 poll commissioned by Greenpeace from the Nippon Research Centre, 69 per cent of people said they did not support high seas whaling.