Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 to pave the way for the resumption of commercial whaling for the first time in about three decades, the government said on Wednesday, a decision likely to draw international condemnation.
Australia and other anti-whaling nations are seeking a showdown with Japan as Tokyo attempts to resume commercial whaling later this year. Japanese officials have reportedly confirmed the country's attempt to alter voting rules and allow hunting of whale species with healthy numbers at an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Brazil in September.
Argentina will make available a Coast Guard vessel in support of the ‘Antarctic Blue Whale Project’ and associated research activities planned for the 201314 season and coming years, according to a release from the Southern Ocean Research Partnership, SORP.
South Korea has decided to scrap its fiercely criticised plan to resume scientific whaling, apparently because of international pressure, a report said Tuesday.
South Korea said on Wednesday that it planned to start whaling through a loophole that allows the killing of whales for scientific research, following the lead of Japan's controversial expeditions.
By a vote of 38 in favour to 21 opposed, the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary (SAWS) failed to meet the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) required 3/4 majority to pass and be established.
Chilean Foreign Minister, Alfredo Moreno, said that Chile will maintain a position “in favour of conservation and against whaling,” and that Chilean Ambassador Cristián Maquieira, though he now chairs the International Whaling Commission, “is not the person who represents Chile” in this forum.
Twelve member countries of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)—an 88-country organization created in 1946 to monitor the whaling industry—have proposed catch quotas for the next ten years for countries that hunt whales.
A new proposal announced last week by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) would allow the killing of a number of whales in the Antarctic Ocean off the coast of Chile and has Chilean environmental groups upset.
The International Whaling Commission unveiled Thursday a draft proposal to bring all whaling operations under its full control and to strengthen and focus the work of the IWC on conservation issues including a compromise proposal which will cut Japan's annual Antarctic quota by three-quarters in five years.