ICJ to Japan: Stop Whaling

[Ultimate Paragon]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/court-rule-japanese-whaling-23123374

The future of whaling in Japan was thrown into doubt after the International Court of Justice ruled Monday that the nation's annual hunt in the Antarctic was not really for scientific purposes — as Tokyo had claimed — and ordered it halted.

The ruling was a major victory for whaling opponents, as it ends for now one of the world's biggest whale hunts, for minkes in the icy Southern Ocean. The judgment was praised by Australia, which brought the case against Japan in 2010, and by environmentalists, who have been seeking an end to whaling since the 1970s on ethical grounds.

The world court's decision leaves Japan with a tough choice between ending whaling outright — despite past claims that it would never abandon such a deep-seated cultural practice — or redesigning its program to make it a scientific endeavor after all.

Well, it looks like Japan's whaling industry is basically dead.

[Askold]

It's about time.

Then again, they've proven that they don't care about international laws so they still might wriggle through some loophole or just completely ignore the laws and try to secretly fish.

(Although in the latter case, all those anti-whaling protesters that follow whaling ships could finally do something useful and report them.)

[RavynousHunter]

Just so long as it doesn't give any positive press to eco-terrorists like the Sea Shepard folks.