Japan has announced that it will continue its whaling research operations by the end of March next year in the Antarctic. The country has continued to push this move despite the rise of global regulations calling for more evidence that proves that the expeditions actually do have a scientific purpose attached to them.
After being suspended for one season of hunting by the United Nations last year, Japan has decided to continue its course. It has told the International Whaling Commission that it would resume activity by cutting down on annual minke whale catches by two-thirds this season, according to AFP.
An exemption to a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that permits catching whales for scientific purposes was what allowed the Japanese to perform their research. However, conservationists have called out the exemption and claim that it is a loophole, saying that the research can be accomplished through non-lethal means. Japan has taken more than 13,000 whales in the past three decades, as several calls directed at the Japanese fisheries went unanswered during those times, Bloomberg reported.
Australia and New Zealand have been active participants in the fight against whaling.
"Australia is committed to the protection of whales and we will continue to work with the international community to promote whale conservation and uphold the global moratorium on commercial whaling," Environment Minister Greg Hunt said.
The IWC dismissed Japan's proposal of limiting their catch to 333 on the grounds of Japan failing to address why they have to kill nearly 4,000 whales in the next 12 years.
Japan is known to process the meat from the mammals into food and claims that the whale population is adequate enough to be used to for this purpose, as much as the United Nations protest, according to the Daily Mail.
