After IWC68, the institution must adapt to include member countries deeply divided in their views toward living marine resources and values of sustainable use.
Overall, in IWC68 the process intended to produce fairness under Western standards was incapable of meeting the needs of developing countries.
The IWC68 financial crisis highlights the IWC's reduced priority for scientific decision making and raises concerns among pro-sustainable use nations.
The resumption of commercial whaling was not Japan's only policy goal at IWC68. Another policy goal was to uphold and promote the principle of sustainable use.
In 2018 the IWC officially shifted the organization’s purpose from whaling management to whale conservation over dozens of objections – and Japan withdrew.
Dr Kato naturally hoped that the IWC would act based on the scientific results of the research. But whales had become a totem of the environmental...
Abe’s legacy included overseeing a dramatic shift in Japan’s whaling policy, from the decision to withdraw from the IWC to the restart of commercial whaling.
Feature photo: Votive tablet showing Meiji era whaling by shooting at Hirado, Seto (Last of 2 Parts) Part 1: Sustaining Human Life: The Birth of Traditional...
Just over a year ago, on June 30, 2019, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC). A day later, on July 1, the...
I have sided with China and North Korea in the past. I was staying at the Friendship Hotel when I taught in Beijing, then suffering...
There is broad political support in Japan for revising the nation’s whaling law, including measures for promoting whale products and preserving whale as part of Japan’s...
I still remember the taste of hard-to-swallow fried whale meat served in Japanese school lunches. I have no nostalgia for it, but when I come...
