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Japan cancels Antarctic whaling hunt

Tokyo reluctantly agrees to honour UN court ban

Japan said yesterday that it would cancel its annual Antarctic whaling hunt for the first time in over 25 years.

The decision brought the country into line with a UN court ruling that the programme was a commercial activity disguised as science.

A “deeply disappointed” Tokyo said earlier this week that it would honour Monday’s judgement by the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in The Hague but did not exclude the possibility of future whaling programmes.

“We have decided to cancel research whaling in the Antarctic for the fiscal year starting in April because of the recent ruling,” a fisheries agency official said.

But he added that Japan planned to “go ahead with research whaling in other areas as scheduled,” including the northern Pacific.

The country also has a coastal whaling programme not covered by a ban.

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