The International Court of Justice in a 12-4 ruling on Monday ordered a temporary halt to Japanese whaling in the Antarctic.
The court says the hunt is not “scientific” as Japan claims.
In the ruling the court says there is no justification for the large number of whales it says it needs to catch under its Antarctic progamme adding that Japan should not issue any whaling permits until the programme is revamped.
The ruling noted among other factors that Japan had not considered a smaller program or non-lethal methods to study whale populations, and said Japan had cited only two peer-reviewed scientific papers relating to its program from 2005 to the present — a period during which it has harpooned 3,600 minke whales, and a handful of fin whales, The meat from the whales killed is sold commercially.
In spite of the ruling Japan has a second, smaller scientific program in the northern Pacific — which now may also be subject to challenge.
Norway and Iceland reject outright a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission and continue to hunt them.
Meanwhile, Canadian activists are calling on the this government to tighten rules on species at risk. This comes after a shipment of whale meat from Iceland arrived in Halifax last month, and was shipped by rail across Canada before heading to Japan.
Canadian inspectors said they allowed the meat to pass because fin whale is not recognized as an “at risk” species in either Iceland or Japan. However, the fin whale -the largest whale- is listed as an endangered species under international convention.
Greenpeace says the federal government has committed to protection of endangered species and so must adopt stricter measures to prevent any future such shipments.
(with files from CBC)
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.