Why Did Japan Withdraw Its Opposition to the Moratorium on Commercial Whaling in 1986?
Opposition to the Moratorium In 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) voted for a moratorium on commercial whaling. The vote was 25 for, 7 against with 5 abstentions. This landmark decision was a victory for conservationists, who had been pushing for a moratorium for a decade, but was seen as irrational by Japan and other pro-whaling nations like Norway and the Soviet Union. Japan continued its commercial harvest of minke and other whales. In 1984, for example, Japan harvested 3,908 whales — mostly minke, Bryde’s and sperm — despite warnings from the United States and other nations which supported the IWC’s moratorium. The Pelly Amendment It became apparent that the IWC lacked the power to enforce its own decision. In response, the United States enacted the Pelly Amendment to the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967, which restricts the “importation of fishery or wildlife products from countries which violate international fishery or endangered or threatened species programs.”
