Hunt for the humpback

Japan have secured a vote at Saint Kitts and Nevis that will allow them to resume commercial whaling.

Members of the international commission which regulates whaling voted at a meeting in St Kitts by 33 to 32 to support a declaration that paves the way to the lifting of a moratorium imposed in 1986 to save whale species from extinction.

Japan was joined by delegates from Caribbean and African countries who have been pushing to lift the ban as a way to protect fish stocks from whales and give their small countries food security.

The group - which included Denmark - said the resolution was needed to force the IWC to take up its original mandate of managing whale hunts, not banning them altogether.

Pro-whaling countries still need 75% of votes in the IWC to end the moratorium but last night's vote was seen as a big step towards that goal and Japan is encouraging new pro-whaling states to join the commission in the hope of wresting control from protectionists.

"This tragic moment signifies a great step backwards in time to when the International Whaling Commission was nothing more than a whalers' club," said Niki Entrup, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. "This is a return to the 1970s dark days when whales roamed the seas unprotected. The welfare and future of whales remains seriously in question."

This is simply disgusting. The argument that whales need to be hunted to protect fish stocks is totally bogus, as the people who are reducing fish stocks are ourselves through over fishing.

The Japanese have attached huge importance to this as they claim whale hunting to be as much a part of their culture as fish and chips are to the British or hot dogs are to the USA.

They have also set about bribing other smaller nations to come to the aid of their cause.

It started in 1982, at the height of the conservationists' victory, when Jamaica - a leading anti-whaling nation - failed to turn up. It transpired that Japan had agreed to buy up almost its entire Blue Mountain coffee crop, at inflated prices, for the indefinite future.

At the same time, the whaling countries have increased their killing. Over the past 10 years Iceland, Norway and Japan between them have been slaughtering more than a thousand whales a year. And this is about to rise dramatically.

Norway has announced plans to kill 1,052 minke whales this year. But it is Japan's plans which cause the greatest alarm. Last year it began an expanded "scientific" whaling programme in Antarctic waters, virtually doubling its catch of minke whales and, for the first time, killing 10 endangered fin whales. And next year it plans to kill 50 humpbacks.

This is simply wrong and must be stopped. There is simply no reason why these magnificent creatures need to be hunted down and subjected to such cruel deaths.

Nor is whale meat even that popular in Japan to justify a resumption in hunting.

Whale meat consumption in Japan fell to about 30 grams (0.07 pounds) per person a year in 2004 from about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) during the 1960s, Sakuma said in her report. [...] The decline in demand has meant the price of whale has fallen from more than 3,500 yen ($30.44) a kilogram in 2000 to about 2,000 yen last year.

It's hard to understand why the Japanese are fighting so hard for this, especially as their public seem to be losing interest in this product.

It can only come down to a cultural issue and a dislike of being told what they can and cannot do. The international community must redouble it's efforts to convince the Japanese of the errors of their ways.

Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae

SIZE: 35ft-48ft long (11m-13m)

WEIGHT: Up to 65 tons

POPULATION: Up from 20,000 in 1966 to 35,000 today

It hunts by hitting the water with its gigantic flippers and stunning its prey - krill and small schooling fish. Popular for its aerial acrobatics.

Grey whale Eschrichtius robustus

SIZE: 36ft-45ft long (11m-14m). Width is 25 per cent of length

WEIGHT: About 36 tons

POPULATION: Back from the brink, to over 25,000

Recognised by its streamlined body. One of the oldest mammal species, having existed for about 30 million years.

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus

SIZE: Up to 100ft long (30m)

WEIGHT: About 140 tons

POPULATION: Down from 250,000-300,000 to 2,000-5,000

The largest animal ever, it has a lung capacity of 5,000 litres. Spray from the whale's blowhole can be seen from several miles away on a calm day.

Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus

SIZE: Up to 85ft long (26m)

WEIGHT: 30-80 tons

POPULATION: Down from 700,000 to just over 100,000

Nicknamed "greyhound of the sea" due to its speed, it makes long, loud, low-frequency noises, which can be detected hundreds of miles away.

Sei whale Balaenoptera borealis

SIZE: 40ft-65ft long (12m-19.5m)

WEIGHT: 40-45 tons

POPULATION: Down from 250,000 to 50,000-60,000

Often seen next to its favourite food; sei is Norwegian for coalfish. Around 50 a year are killed by Icelandic and Japanese whalers for "research".

Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata

SIZE: 23ft-25ft long (7m-7.5m)

WEIGHT: Up to 14 tons

POPULATION: Around 900,000

Minke was an 18th-century Norwegian whaler, famous for breaking the rules about the sizes of whales he was allowed to hunt. Small whales became known as "Minke's whales".

Sperm whale Physeter catodon

SIZE: 39ft-59ft long (12m-18m)

WEIGHT: 27.5-55 tons

POPULATION: Anything between 200,000 and 2 million

The milky white spermaceti, found in its head, was originally mistaken for sperm. It is now understood to be either for buoyancy, or echo-location.

Right whale Balaena glacialis/australis

SIZE: 36ft-59ft long (11m-18m)

WEIGHT: 60-80 tons

POPULATION: About 8,000

A great tourist attraction as it calves near to the shore. The town of Hermanus in South Africa employs a "whale crier" to announce where southern right whales have been seen.

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