The resumption of commercial whaling was not Japan’s only policy goal at IWC68. Another policy goal was to uphold and promote the principle of sustainable use.
Lessons in sustainability at NAMMCO showed why the whaling issue is not easily tidied away by declaring whether one is “for” or “against” hunting the animals.
Not the whaling moratorium, but the defense and promotion of the general principle of sustainable use is the important policy issue for many countries.
Dr Kato naturally hoped that the IWC would act based on the scientific results of the research. But whales had become a totem of the environmental movement.
Whales were resources that swam slowly through the sea. Once brought up onto land, their massive bodies were divided and used until there was nothing left.
Japan’s research whaling is quite rigorous, and takes a strictly conservation-based approach. The country’s weak voice internationally makes it hard to defeat unfounded criticism, however.