IWC panel to discuss compromise allowing coastal whaling+

TOKYO, March 6 Kyodo -
The International Whaling Commission will kick off a three-day meeting Monday
in Rome to discuss a proposal that would allow Japan to hunt whales in its
coastal waters in return for scaling down or ending so-called ''research
whaling'' in the Antarctic Ocean.
The draft proposal, published last month by a panel chaired by Alvaro de Soto,
allows Japan to catch minke whales in coastal waters for five years.
But on research whaling, the panel proposed Japan phase out the catching of
Antarctic minke whales in stages in five years or set an annual limit of such
catches for five years.
Although the IWC has been trying to bridge the gap between pro- and
anti-whaling countries, it remains unclear whether both sides will be able to
agree on the proposed compromise.
Japan has been hunting whales for what it calls scientific purposes after
halting commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international moratorium.
Japan is expected to oppose ending scientific whaling while proposing setting a
limit on such hunting in a bid to reach a compromise. Anti-whaling nations,
such as Australia, have been calling for an end to scientific whaling.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the majority
of whale meat consumed in Japan is of whales caught in the Antarctic Ocean and
the northwestern Pacific under the scientific whaling program.
In 2007, the amount of such domestically consumed whale meat came to 4,050
tons, about four times more than 1,138 tons in 1987 when Japan launched the
scientific whaling program.
==Kyodo
2009-03-06 22:22:26