Carter refutes Japanese whaling claims

Chris Carter

Conservation Minister Chris Carter has refuted claims by Tokyo that he is misleading the public about Japan's whaling programme.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research is accusing Mr Carter of mixing science with a politically motivated anti-whaling position.

The Institute was reacting to the release by Mr Carter of a damning critique of Japan's whaling programme that will see them killing more than 1000 whales a year for scientific purposes.

Mr Carter says it is ironic that Japan is now accusing New Zealand of the very thing that it is now doing, cloaking a hunting programme with a so-called scientific rational.

He says it is not about scientific enquiry, it is about an excuse to use existing international regulations to hunt as many whales as possible to sell the flesh.

Mr Carter says the programme is just an excuse to hunt whale and sell the meat on the Japanese fish market.

- NEWSTALK ZB