Japan 'buys' pro-whaling votes

Japan claims the right to kill whales for scientific research

CANBERRA, Australia -- Japan has admitted it hands out overseas aid to entice countries to vote against imposing bans on commercial whaling.

That's according to the Japanese fisheries agency head, who also said on Wednesday Japan fosters diplomatic contacts to get them on their side.

Japan kills about 500 whales a year under a scientific whaling program, and is campaigning for a rollback of a 1986 worldwide ban on commercial whaling.

The Japanese stance is vastly different from those of other Pacific nations such as Australia and New Zealand, which are vying to create a South Pacific whale sanctuary.

Japan's revelation comes just one week before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is due to meet in London on July 23.

It also comes as researchers say they have found evidence that so-called scientific whaling is providing a cover for the illegal sale of whale meat, considered a delicacy in Japan.

Japan is one country allowed under a 15-year-old international moratorium to catch a certain number of whales for scientific research.

'Tools' of diplomacy

Some Japanese say eating whale meat is healthy

Fisheries agency head Masayuki Komatsu said Japan had to use the "tools" of diplomatic communications and promises of aid to influence members of the IWC.

"Japan does not have military powers, unlike the U.S. or Australia," he said in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio interview.

"It is natural we must resort to those two major tools."

He defended Japan's stance, saying there was nothing wrong with this approach.

The minke whale, the species most commonly killed by Japanese whalers, was "a cockroach in the oceans," he added.

Sanctuary out

Six Caribbean countries voted with Japan last year on nearly every motion at the IWC, including the defeat of a proposal to create a South Pacific whale sanctuary.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has reacted angrily to Komatsu's comments, accusing Japan of bribing poorer nations to support its campaign to overturn the global moratorium on commercial whaling.

"This confirmation of Japan's tactics shows the desperate lengths it will go to in order to maintain whaling," Clark said in a statement.

Japan has been under suspicion for some time of effectively buying the support of poorer countries, she added.

Clark's government strongly opposes the Japanese scientific whaling program, and will again pursue a proposal for whale sanctuaries in the South Pacific and South Atlantic through the IWC.

"We are more determined than ever to protect the great mammals of the ocean in perpetuity, and today's admission by Japan underlines the urgency of this task," Clark said.

Proof

Observers suspect Japan uses scientific research as a way of getting around the ban.

Meanwhile DNA detectives from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said on Wednesday they have discovered meat from endangered whales on sale in Japanese food markets.

"This new research finally reveals the truth -- that so-called scientific whaling is providing a cover for the illegal trade in endangered species," the IFAW's Japan representative Naoko Funahashi said in a statement released in London.

The scientists said they found meat from protected humpback, fin and sei whales on sale. They added that horse and dolphin meat is being passed off as whale meat.

The researchers, who have presented their evidence to the IWC, purchased a total of 129 samples from whale markets and subjected them to DNA analysis.

Environmentalists argue that carefully controlled whale-watching for tourists offers a financially viable alternative to hunting, with nine million whale enthusiasts generating record revenues of $1 billion in 2000.

Reuters contributed to this report.