U.S. Ordered to Curb Japan on Whaling : Court Says Baldrige Is Required by Law to Impose Sanctions

In a major setback to U.S.-Japanese trade negotiations, a federal appeals court ruled today that America must impose sanctions against Japan for violating international whaling quotas.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, rejecting arguments of the Reagan Administration, said Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige is required by law to impose the penalties.

Baldrige had asked the court to exempt Japan from the sanctions, which will halve Japan’s fishing quotas in U.S. territorial waters at a cost to Japan of about $462 million a year.

In March, the two nations announced a pact that would have allowed Japan to kill up to 1,200 sperm whales without facing sanctions in exchange for ending all commercial whaling in 1988. The International Whaling Commission, of which Japan is a member, has voted to end all commercial whaling by 1986.

Split Decision

Writing for a 2-1 majority, Judge Skelly Wright said, “Where a foreign nation allows its nationals to fish in excess of recommendations set forth by an international fishery conservation program, it has per se diminished the effectiveness of that program.”

In such cases, Wright said, the imposition of sanctions “is mandatory and non-discretionary.”

The ruling was a victory for Greenpeace and other conservation organizations, which filed suit against the government in 1984 requesting that Baldrige be ordered to certify Japan as a nation that had violated anti-whaling quotas.

The Pelly and Packwood-Magnuson amendments, which impose the sanctions, were passed by Congress to put teeth in International Whaling Commission regulations. The commission has no enforcement powers.

U.S. Backed Whalers

The federal government took the side of the Japan Whaling Assn. in opposing the use of sanctions in a move Japanese trade officials viewed as a major U.S. concession in overall trade negotiations.

The association’s members say whaling is an important part of Japan’s economy and culture.

In 1981, the commission called for a total ban on whaling by 1986. Countries that objected to the ban were able to exempt themselves by filing formal objections, and Japan did.

In the 1950s, whaling was a big business in Japan, employing about 15,000 people. Today, the industry has about 1,300 workers and whale meat, once a major source of protein, is a delicacy.