Great news came from the International Whaling Commission meeting in Ulsan, South Korea last week. Japan and a few others pro-whaling nations tried to expand whaling. These pro-whaling countries argue that whale population has been increasing to a level where hunting should be permitted again. Others like Australia and New Zealand argue otherwise. By far, greens won the battle.

Based on recovering population argument, Japan brought up several issues. One was to reintroduce commercial whaling. Fortunately, the proposal was shot down.

Another proposal set forth by Japan was coastal whaling. Experts say that this is a kind of cultural whaling. At the same time, whaling as a culture has always been allowed as long as it’s not done commercially. One instance where whaling as a mean of subsistence is of Native American's practices. Nevertheless, many simply don't buy that Japan is interested in whaling as a culture. The scheme was given a nay.

Japan also sought to remove a whale sanctuary located in southern ocean. That too, was pushed back to Japan's table.

Among these motions pushed forward by Japan, the most dangerous in my opinion is secret ballot voting. The motion was rejected by the majority.

It has been alleged that Japan is indirectly involved in vote buying. It is indirect because Japan would give out economic aid to improvised countries in return of vote favoring Japan. If the secret ballot voting was passed, it is possible that commercial whaling would resume. Already last week, certain African and Caribbean blocs stood side by side with Japan while these countries need economic aids the most, not whaling quota. Furthermore, should commercial whaling be allowed, Japan, Iceland and other modern pro-whaling nations would benefit the most, not these poor nations.

On the sideline, Japan announced an increase of whale catch for scientific purpose. However, according to Reuters:

Japan's well-flagged plan to expand its research work made public at the start of the annual meeting on Monday includes nearly doubling its annual catch of minke whales to about 900 and eventually hunting 50 fin and humpback whales a year -- two types of whales conservationists say are threatened.

Much of the meat from whales killed under Japan's scientific programmes ends up on store shelves or in up-scale restaurants, rather than in laboratories. Japan maintains that killing whales helps them study what they eat, among other things.

Nobody at the moment has the ability to stop Japan from conducting whaling for scientific investigation. Moreover, I do believe it is alright to whale in the name of science. Nevertheless, it seems obvious that Japan is manipulating a loophole here to sidestep a ban on commercial whaling.

If you are interested on the issue, Greenpeace currently has an anti-whaling blog running at the momemt. The blog is mostly directed to Iceland however. To me, this is the case because it is easier to target Iceland, which is nothing compared to world’s second largest economy, Japan.

p/s - many should have heard on how the US sabotaged an effort against climate change (reg. req.) in a G8 meeting a week or two ago.