NZ to battle Japan over whaling

An anticipated attempt by Japan to weaken the role of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will be challenged by New Zealand this week.

Japan appears to have the votes at a meeting in the Caribbean to reduce the commission's role in protecting whales, but Conservation Minister Chris Carter is refusing to give up the fight.

It is believed Japan will try to remove Greenpeace's observer status at the IWC and introduce secret ballots so pro-whaling nations can support it without being named and shamed.

But Mr Carter, who will travel to St Kitts in the West Indies for the meeting, said today he remained hopeful New Zealand and other anti-whaling nations could turn back some of Japan's support.

"This IWC meeting could be crucial to the future of the world's whale populations," he said.

He had recently won an undertaking from the Solomons to abstain on crucial votes and he would "forcibly" remind other wavering countries of the importance of marine conservation once he arrived in the Caribbean.

Over the past three months Mr Carter and his Australian counterpart Ian Campbell have launched a diplomatic offensive, crisscrossing the Pacific in a bid to shore up support for whale conservation.

But Mr Carter acknowledged that Japan, which has given generous aid packages to poorer countries -- including those in the Pacific, still had the edge.

"It seems to be bent on a mission whose costs are almost unlimited."

However, to pass its motions Japan must ensure that its supporters show up to vote.

Last year it also had the numbers for a majority, but did not get one because representatives from some poorer nations did not show up for actual votes.

Mr Carter said although Japan had enough support for a simple majority, it would still lack the three-quarters majority needed to end a two-decade-old moratorium on commercial whaling.

But the simple majority would allow it to chip away and undermine the ban.

Mr Carter said the IWC was badly in need of modernising, but it still played a vital role in preserving the ban.

Japan, along with Norway and Iceland, the only three nations to carry out significant whaling, argue the moratorium has done its job -- and that certain species are plentiful enough to hunt.

Currently, Japan conducts what is known as "scientific whaling" which is permitted by the IWC. In all, pro-whaling states take about 2000 whales a year.

New IWC nations Guatemala, the Marshall Islands and Cambodia, with little whaling history, are expected to vote with Japan.

Israel has also signed up -- reportedly at the behest of the United States, which opposes a return to commercial whaling.

Mr Carter leaves for the Caribbean today, with key votes expected to begin on Friday.

- NZPA