Japan
said Friday it would redesign its controversial Antarctic whaling
mission in a bid to make it more scientific, after a United Nations
court ruled it was a commercial hunt masquerading as research.
The
bullish response, which could see harpoon ships back in the Southern
Ocean next year, sets Tokyo back on a collision course with
environmentalists.
Campaigners had hailed the decision by the
International Court of Justice, with hopes that it might herald the end
of a practice they view as barbaric.
"We will carry out extensive
studies in cooperation with ministries concerned to submit a new
research programme by this autumn to the International Whaling
Commission (IWC), reflecting the criteria laid out in the verdict," said
Yoshimasa Hayashi, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Japan,
a member of the IWC, has hunted whales under a loophole allowing for
lethal research. It has always maintained that it was intending to prove
the whale population was large enough to sustain commercial hunting.
But it never hid the fact that the by-product of whale meat made its way onto menus.
"The verdict confirmed that the (IWC moratorium) is partly aimed at sustainable use of whale resources.
"Following
this, our country will firmly maintain its basic policy of conducting
whaling for research, on the basis of international law and scientific
foundations, to collect scientific data necessary for the regulation of
whale resources, and aim for resumption of commercial whaling."
Hayashi,
who had met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier in the day,
confirmed a previous announcement that the 2014-15 hunt in the Southern
Ocean would not go ahead.
Last month's court ruling does not
apply to Japan's two other whaling programmes: a "research" hunt in
coastal waters and in the northwestern Pacific, and a much smaller
programme that operates along the coast, which is not subject to the
international ban.
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Japanese officials dine on whale in protest against court ruling
Hundreds
of Japanese officials and pro-whaling lobbyists have eaten whale in
defiance of a international court ruling that ordered the country to
stop its Antarctic whaling program.
The
26th whale meat tasting event in Tokyo was hosted near the nation's
parliament and was attended by lawmakers, officials and pro-whaling
lobbyists.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa
Hayashi told attendees that the country must protect its whale-eating
culture.
"[Japan] has a policy of harvesting and sustainably using
the protein source from the ocean, and that is unshakable," Associated
Press quoted Mr Hayashi as saying.
Meanwhile, a lower house MP criticised the arguments against whaling as emotional and not based on reason.
"Japan’s
whaling is based on scientific reasons, while counterarguments by
anti-whaling groups are emotional, saying they are against the hunts
because whales are cute or smart," the Japan Times reported Shunichi
Suzuki of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as saying.
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Japan 'will continue whaling in Pacific'
Updated: 15:21, Friday April 18, 2014
Japan
has decided to continue its whaling program in the Pacific Ocean,
reports say, despite losing a United Nations court case on its other
"research" hunt in the Antarctic.
If confirmed, the move will
likely spark anger among environmentalists who hailed a ruling in March
by the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Tokyo's hunt in
the Southern Ocean was a commercial activity disguised as science.
Japan
has exploited a loophole in a 1986 moratorium that allowed it to
conduct lethal research on the mammals, but has openly admitted their
meat makes its way onto dinner tables.
Campaigners urged Tokyo to
follow the spirit of the ruling, and not just its letter, which
specifically referred to Japan's hunt in the Antarctic, not its other
research scheme in the northwest Pacific or its smaller coastal program.
But
after the ICJ verdict, a government review has said the Pacific hunt
should press ahead, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News Agency
reported on Friday.
The review suggests the Pacific mission should
reduce its catch and focus more on carrying out research that does not
involve catching whales.
A spokesman for the fisheries agency said he was unable to comment.
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