The Hague- Public hearings began yesterday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, regarding a dispute between Japan and Australia over the fomer’s whaling policies.

The dispute boils down to what type of whaling Japan currently pursues. As it stands, commercial whaling is banned, outlawed in 1986. However, countries and communities may carry out whaling practices for scientific or “indigenous” reasons (native cultures carrying out the practice for subsistence).

Japan currently catches a significant number of Minke and Fin Whales each year, the meat of which is sold commercially. They argue that this is done within a sustainable framework in order to measure whale populations, should their numbers ever grow big enough for commercial whaling to become viable once more.

Australia, who are also being backed in the case by New Zealand, disagree with Japanese claims that this practice constitutes a legitimate scientific study.

"Australia's views on whaling are well established. We strongly oppose all commercial whaling, including so-called 'scientific' whale hunting by Japan," said Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, representing Australia in court.

The Australian bench argued that if all countries took advantage of Japan’s circumventing of the rules on whaling, some 83,000 plus whales would be killed in the Southern Ocean each year, an entirely unsustainable level.

Conservation groups are in full support of Australia’s case. "Commercial whaling, whether conducted openly or under the guise of science, is a cruel and outdated practice which produces no science of value," said Patrick Ramage, director of the whales program at the International Fund for Animal Welfare in London.

Any decision by the court will be legally binding. Evidence will be heard over the next three weeks and a decision is expected before the end of the year.

P.O.S