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Whaling nations defiant

Pro-whaling nations issued a draft statement yesterday accusing anti-whaling countries of "imperialism" for imposing a ban on commercial hunts, and Japan threatened to quit the International Whaling Commission unless it is reformed.

The statements came at the end of a three-day conference in Japan aimed at reforming the IWC. The meeting, however, was boycotted by half the commission's membership, including anti-whaling nations the US, Britain and Australia.

Japan and other pro-whaling countries argue the IWC is too polarized to be effective and has strayed from its original purpose of managing commercial whaling. Instead, the IWC is simply maintaining a ban on commercial whaling, they say.

A draft summary of the conference, which was to be debated and revised over coming months before the IWC's next meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, accused anti-whaling countries of discriminating against and slandering pro-hunt members.

"Imposing moral and ethical judgments that affect our right to use resources in spite of scientific evidence is imperialism," the summary said, listing views expressed at a panel discussion during the conference.

Japan and others are pushing for an end to a 1986 global moratorium on commercial whaling. Still, Japan kills hundreds of whales each year under an IWC-allowed scientific program, and the meat is sold as food.

Joji Morishita, Tokyo's representative to the conference, said his country would push for much-needed reforms at the next IWC meeting this year. But he said Japan could not wait forever for change to come.

"We have to be realistic, and we can't continue this process for 10, 20 years," Morishita said. "Unless there is a move toward a next step at Anchorage, we must consider what we will do next."

When asked if he meant Japan would withdraw from the IWC, he said: "The option has been on the table for several years now."

The nations met amid sometimes violent confrontations in the southern Pacific between Japanese whaling boats and anti-whaling protesters. Japan's fleet is hunting up to 945 whales in Antarctic waters under an IWC provision that allows the mammals to be killed for scientific research.

The conference draft summary accused anti-whaling nations of imposing their values on small island countries, blocking good-faith debate on whaling and ignoring scientific evidence that whale stocks are abundant.

The draft recommended allowing Japanese small-scale coastal whalers to take minke whales, and that the IWC consider a resolution calling for respect for cultural diversity.

Japan plans to push for the expansion of the coastal hunts in Anchorage, Morishita said.

Critics contend Japan plans to use the conference to push for a resumption of commercial whaling.
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