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Japan's Antarctic whaling programme is unacceptable and must stop, the International Court of Justice ruled yesterday.
Australia had sued Japan at the UN’s top court in the hope of ending whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Reading a 12-4 decision, presiding Judge Peter Tomka said Japan’s programme fails to justify the large number of minke whales it says it needs under its current Antarctic programme — 850 annually — and it doesn’t catch that many anyway.
It also didn’t come close to catching the 50 fin and 50 humpback whales it aimed to take.
“The court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking and treating of whales … are not ‘for purposes of scientific research’,” Judge Tomka said.
The court ordered Japan to halt any issuing of whaling permits at least until the programme had been reconsidered.
