Latest Whaling in Japan Stories

AGADIR, Morocco, June 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement today in response to the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) Annual Meeting concluding without any results from the three-year effort to reconcile the impasse between pro-whaling and anti-whaling countries. "We are deeply disappointed that the governments present here, after more than 3 years of intense work, could not...

WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Efforts to finally bring an end to the impasse between pro-whaling and anti-whaling countries in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will be the focus of the IWC's Annual Meeting, opening in Agadir, Morocco, on Monday, June 21. The "Save the Whales" campaign of the 1970s and 1980s mobilized governments and the public around the world behind the moratorium on commercial whaling, which was enacted by the IWC in 1982 and implemented in...

Companies in Norway, Japan and Iceland are betting heavily on the lifting of a commercial whaling moratorium, and are working to develop new whale-based products ranging from golf balls to hair dye, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).As members of the 88-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC) prepare for a meeting next week in Agadir, Morocco, debate on the use of hunted whales has focused on meat consumption, particularly in...

WASHINGTON, June 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Washington, DC and London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today revealed that proposals to resume commercial whaling under the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will cost nearly 19 million dollars over the next decade. Estimated additional costs for the US during this time would be over $988,000 if costs were shared between member countries. A document posted to the IWC's website last week(1) outlined basic costs for...

Japanese officials said Tuesday that Australia has launched legal action through the International Court of Justice to stop Japan's hunting of whales. Australia's action in The Hague follows months of tension between Canberra and Tokyo, which is allowed to kill whales because of a loophole in the 1986 international moratorium that allows lethal "scientific research.""We were informed that Australia has filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice regarding research...

On Thursday, a fleet of Japanese harpoon ships launched their springtime coastal whale hunt with expectations of killing 60 whales during what the country considers scientific research. The expedition started just 10 days after the last Japanese whaling ship returned from an Antarctic hunt, which found harassment by environmental activists. Japan's fisheries agency said four whaling ships and one research vessel would hunt mink whales until early June, which is before a meeting of the...

WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement in response to the proposal released today by the Chair (Cristian Maquieira of Chile) and Vice-Chair (Anthony Liverpool, Antigua and Barbuda) of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The proposal will be considered at the IWC's annual meeting this June, in Agadir, Morocco. "The negotiations on the future of the IWC have moved...

YARMOUTH PORT, Mass., April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - www.ifaw.org) announced that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has released a new plan to legalize commercial whaling. The proposal, if adopted, would overturn the 1986 ban on commercial whaling by authorizing whaling by Norway, Iceland, and Japan. It would also legalize Japan's whaling in an internationally recognized whale sanctuary around Antarctica, grant new rights to...

CANBERRA, Australia, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent New York Times article claiming that Australia supported a compromise proposal to allow whaling was "completely wrong," Australia's International Whaling Commissioner Donna Petrachenko said in Washington today. Commissioner Petrachenko is attending a meeting of the 12-member International Whaling Commission (IWC) Support Group discussing the Future of the IWC. Reiterating statements made by the Minister for Environment Protection,...

Australia wants to phase out harpooning of whales in the Southern Ocean over the next five years and is calling for an end to "scientific whaling". The demands, aimed at Japanese whalers, were outlined in a proposal sent to the International Whaling Commission, said Environment Minister Peter Garrett. Australian officials threatened to take legal action against Japan over its whaling practices if principle conservation objectives cannot be secured by negotiation. The proposal to end whaling...