Japan has agreed to adhere by an international court ruling, ordering the nation to end whaling in the Southern Ocean.
On Monday, 31 March, the International Court of Justice ruled against the hunt. Officials in Tokyo maintained the practice was needed for scientific investigation. The highest court in the United Nations ruled against the government of Japan, saying the actions were not justified.
In a 12-4 decision, the court found in favor of Australia, who brought the case against Japan in May 2010. The government in Canberra successfully won their suit, forcing a temporary ban on whaling off the coast of Antarctica.
"In light of the fact the [research program] has been going on since 2005 and has involved the killing of about 3,600 minke whales, the scientific output to date appears limited," Peter Tomka, presiding judge on the case, told those present in the court.
In the last nine years, just two articles developed in Japan were published peer-reviewed scientific journals. Those studies involved a total of just nine animals. Despite claims the animals were being hunted solely for scientific purposes, whale meat can be found in several restaurants and markets throughout Japan.
This ruling does not mean whales are safe from hunting. Japanese boats also hunt the intelligent marine mammals in the northern Pacific, where this ruling does not apply. Commercial whaling operations take place in the northern Atlantic, managed by Norway and Iceland. These hunts take place despite a 1986 ban on the practice passed by the International Whaling Commission.
Japan claimed the practice of hunting whales was condoned for scientific purposes under the international Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, adopted in 1946. Around 850 minke whales were killed in the South Sea by Japanese hunters each year.
"[T]here is no indication that Japan has duly considered the IWC comments and recommendations in respect of certain controversial aspects of [Southern Ocean hunting] such as its resort to lethal methods," the court wrote [pdf] in its ruling.
Japanese whale hunters could continue their trade if the government in Tokyo withdraws from either the 1946 treaty or the 28-year-old moratorium.
The court ruling was "disappointing," according to officials in Tokyo. However, they have agreed to abide by the decision.
Japan has a tradition of whale hunting that goes back 2,000 years. Whaling greatly increased in popularity after World War Two, when whale hunting, using re-commissioned warships, was encouraged by allied forces as a source of protein for the defeated nation. However, it is only in the last fifty years or so that people have started to realize the great intelligence of these marine mammals.
