Japan Returns Whaling Threat

The highest-ranking Japanese member of the International Whaling Commission said U.S. sanctions against his country for its whale research program would only backfire by punishing U.S. workers. Speaking at a conference on Pacific fish stocks, Masayuki Komatsu was responding to remarks by Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta, who said he was considering asking President Clinton to ban imports of Japanese fishery products to show opposition to Japan’s decision to add larger Bryde’s and sperm whales to its research program, which until now was confined to minke whales. The commission banned commercial whaling in the mid-1980s but allowed some whales to be killed for research purposes.