Japan to halt its humpback hunts

Published Monday, December 24, 2007

TOKYO (AP) - Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, the country’s top government spokesman said Friday.

Japan decided to suspend humpback hunts at the request of the United States, which is currently chair of the International Whaling Commission, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura.

"The government has decided to suspend hunts of humpback whales while talks to normalize IWC is taking place," Machimura said. "But there will no changes to our stance on our research whaling itself."

"The U.S. asked Japan to freeze planned humpback hunts" for one to two years to support its effort as the chairman to normalize the IWC, Machimura said.

"We applaud Japan’s decision as an act of goodwill toward the International Whaling Commission," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. "Japan has listened intently to the concerns surrounding their hunt and the special significance whales have in many cultures."

Japan argues that the IWC has become a place for emotional fights rather the setting for calm discussion, and has called for "normalizing" reforms that would return it to that function.

Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism.

Commercial hunts of humpbacks have been banned worldwide since 1966.

"This seems to be a problem of differences in national sentiment," so "it’s not a matter that can be solved by appealing to one another through logic," Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told reporters.