Whaling case: Japan misinterprets article - NZ

Whales being dragged on board a Japanese ship. Photo / File / AFP

New Zealand has accused Japan of treating the whaling convention as "an industry cartel" during an international court battle against whaling.

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson appeared before the International Court of Justice in The Hague yesterday to present New Zealand's argument against Japan's whaling programme.

Australia initiated the court proceedings in 2010, alleging Japan has been carrying out commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean under the guise of a scientific whaling programme.

It alleges that is in breach of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and other international obligations to preserve marine mammals and the ocean environment.

New Zealand is an intervenor in the case, which allowed Mr Finlayson to make a 90-minute submission to the court yesterday.

He told the court that Japan was wrongly interpreting article eight of the whaling convention, which deals with scientific permit whaling, AAP reported.

"Under Japan's interpretation ... the convention is solely a vehicle for the optimum utilisation of whales through commercial whaling - nothing more than an industry cartel.

"If the goal of the convention were to protect the whaling industry rather than whale stocks it would have been structured quite differently."

Mr Finlayson said article eight was an integral part of the whaling convention and Japan could not use it to "side-step" the rest of the convention's obligations, including a ban on commercial whaling.

"Far from creating a blanket exemption, the words create an obligation on the contracting government to operate within the words of the convention when issuing a special permit," he said.

"It is not carte blanche allowing a contracting government to side-step the rest of the convention and the other obligations it has assumed."

Australia opened its case in the court two weeks ago. A second round of oral arguments from Australia and Japan is set to follow New Zealand's submission.

The court's panel of 16 judges is excepted to take several months to reach its decision, which is binding on the parties and cannot be appealed.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully earlier said he was pleased New Zealand was able to put its views on the proper interpretation of the whaling convention before the court.