The beginning of the end? The International Court of Justice's decision on Japanese Antarctic whaling

• Main Author: Nurse, Angus
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Association of Lawyers for Animal Welfare 2014
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13718/; https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13718/1/Japanese%20Whaling%20AAN-ALaw%20pages%2014%20-%2017.pdf; https://www.alaw.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/alaw-journal-spring-2014-1.pdf

This article assessing the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decision on Japanese Antarctic whaling. Despite a moratorium on whaling agreed in 1986, Japan has continued to grant permits for 'scientific whaling' allowing its ships to kill whales due to provisions in the International Whaling Convention that would allow such activity. However, environmentalists have long maintained that Japan has continued its commercial whaling program, exploiting a loophole in the whaling convention in order to do so. This article is a preliminary assessment of the ICJ's judgment which concluded that Japan's whaling program was not being carried out for scientific purposes.