Whaling Nations Try to Chip Away at International Commission Ban
Whaling nations moved Monday to chip away at an international ban on commercial whaling rather than wage a long-odds fight to scrap it.
On the opening day of the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting, Norway urged that small-scale coastal whaling be designated as a new category, separate from banned hunts by big factory ships.
Japan, meanwhile, sought permission to take what it called an emergency allocation of small minke whales as an interim measure if the moratorium is renewed.
Environmentalists described both bids as efforts to open the door to the resumption of large-scale commercial whaling. The international commission ban became fully effective in 1988.
Japan and Norway both want to hunt minke whales, a species they say is not endangered. Norway has been angered by U.S. warnings it could face economic sanctions.
Environmentalists say the continued ban is justified because whale population counts are extremely imprecise, even though minkes appear relatively plentiful.
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