Japanese Plan to Kill 875 Antarctic Whales for ‘Research’

After announcing an end to five decades of commercial whaling in Antarctic waters, Japan has disclosed that it plans to send a fleet back to the area late this year to kill 875 whales for “research purposes.”

That number would equal 45% of the number that Japanese whalers caught in their final commercial season there, which ended in March. After examination by specialists, the research whales would be sold on the market in Japan.

The purpose of the research, Japanese officials say, is to help end a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling organized by the International Whaling Commission by proving that the number of whales is increasing. Under U.S. pressure, Japan grudgingly agreed last year to abide by the moratorium starting in 1988.

Japan expects protests from the United States and environmental groups charging that the research is really a disguised form of commercial whaling.

One fisheries official said it will take into account “international public opinion” and abide by any changes in rules for research that the commission may make. But he said Japan feels the plan is within its rights.

A Washington spokesman for Greenpeace, the international environmental group, condemned the Japanese move. “What you are having is a continuation of commercial whaling under another name,” Dean Wilkinson said.

No control is established over research quotas, he said. Iceland has used the loophole, and South Korea and Norway have also indicated that they plan to do so.