Japan Halts Whaling Program in Response to International Court Ruling
Japan's program to take minke, fin, and humpback whales in the Southern Ocean is not based on sound science, says court.
Japan says it will abide by a Monday ruling from the United Nations' International Court of Justice ordering the nation to stop hunting whales off Antarctica.
Japan had long claimed that its program to take minke, fin, and humpback whales in the waters surrounding Antarctica (referred to in the ruling as the Southern Ocean) was aimed at collecting scientific data.
But the International Court of Justice (ICJ), headquartered at the Hague in the Netherlands, found that the program was not scientific in nature and that it could be considered commercial whaling.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, and most countries participating in the IWC, including Japan, have said they will follow that ban.
"Japan is disappointed and regrets" today's ruling,
