Japan Lacks Votes to End Whaling Ban

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Tokyo, which has fought for years to undo the 1986 moratorium, sent shivers through anti-whaling ranks last year when it rallied a one-vote majority at the IWC for a symbolic resolution saying the ban was no longer needed.

But anti-whaling forces say that with the recent addition of several pro-moratorium members, Tokyo's influence in the 75-member group is slipping and remains far from having the three-fourth's majority needed to scrap the ban at the IWC meeting next week.

"It's 100 percent sure, the moratorium is safe," said Junichi Sato, the oceans project manager for anti-whaling environmentalist group Greenpeace Japan.

Even Japanese officials concede they don't have the numbers to make a serious assault on the moratorium, though they say their arguments _ that the IWC should be managing whaling rather than banning it _ are gaining support.

Japan kills some 1,000 whales each year under an IWC-allowed scientific program, and the meat is sold as food. Many environmental groups object, but Japan argues the program is needed to gauge whale populations and study their breeding and feeding habits.

Japan argues that whale hunting is part of its culture, while opponents such as the United States and Britain argue the world should protect the endangered species.

Tokyo's stance that it has a right to hunt the mammals as a whale-meat eating nation is winning some sympathy, said Hideaki Okada of Japan's Fisheries Agency.

"I think it's 50-50," Okada said when asked about support for Japan in the commission. "But I do feel that Japan's position on particular areas like dietary culture is being understood to a certain extent."

The past year has seen feverish activity by both anti- and pro-whaling camps to recruit fellow-travelers to the IWC, which meets May 28-31 in Anchorage, Alaska.

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