Whaling Panel Vote Angers Japanese

Threats by Japan to quit the International Whaling Commission were renewed Tuesday after the group’s technical panel approved a French plan to create a whale sanctuary in the Antarctic.

Environmentalists called the vote a moral victory but said the sanctuary plan almost certainly lacks the votes needed for approval by the full commission.

The creation of a sanctuary would end Japan’s research-whaling program, which lets it catch about 300 minke whales a year in the Antarctic.

Although whaling is economically insignificant in Japan, the issue has taken on symbolic significance. The government says anti-whaling efforts amount to foreign meddling in Japan’s culture.

Tuesday’s preliminary vote required only a simple majority. Final approval would require a three-quarters vote.