Ulsan, 23 June 2005: IWMC, the world's leading pro-sustainable use conservation group, today condemned the International Whaling Commission for failing to support a proposal that would have provided a catch quota for four traditional coastal whaling communities in Japan.

The proposed quota for abundant minke whales off Japan's coast was defeated by 29 votes to 26 with the European Union block vote being the decisive factor. Without the European Union, the proposal would have been opposed by just 12 nations.

Ironically, the United States, a country based on the principle of the free market, voted against the proposal because of its commercial nature. Germany claimed that the moratorium had to be upheld, even though it has no scientific basis and takes no account of abundance figures.

Eugene Lapointe said: "The IWC denies traditional Japanese whaling communities from whaling abundant species in their own waters, while providing quotas to all other countries in the same situation. Japanese fishermen are being prevented from earning their traditional livelihoods by officials in Brussels, Canberra, Wellington and Washington, DC who hide behind the outdated moratorium to justify the needless suffering they impose."

"When an international body like the IWC is so consistently negligent, it fails to command any respect and loses the authority to govern. Japan should now carefully consider proceeding with sustainable community-based harvests in its own waters, even if it means doing so without the endorsement of the IWC."

For further information, contact Eugène Lapointe
Florida: +1(727) 734-4949 or email: iwmc@iwmc.org