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Press Conference By Hideki Moronuki

Hideki Moronuki, Senior Fisheries Negotiator, Fisheries Agency and Alternate Commissioner to The International Whaling Commission(IWC) answers questions from reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), in Tokyo, September 27, 2018. Japan submitted several changes to the recent International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Florianopolis, Brazil, that could have paved the way for a resumption of commercial whaling. The proposals included the establishment of a "Sustainable Whaling Committee" that would make recommendations on catch limits for whaling. Japan also called for changes to ensure that certain decisions could be reached by the vote of a simple majority, rather than the existing three-quarter requirement. The government argued that significant scientific progress had been made since the adoption of the moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. However, the package failed to gain adequate support at the IWC meeting, with only 27 votes in favor compared with 41 against and two abstentions. Many countries oppose whaling and have also raised doubts about the grounds for Japan's existing "scientific" whaling programs. Japanese officials have indicated that they now intend to carry out a fundamental reassessment of its position as a member of the IWC, and will scrutinize all options. Hideki Moronuki is a Senior Fisheries Negotiator at the Fisheries Agency of Japan and also serves as Alternate Commissioner to the IWC. (Photo by Alessandro Di Ciommo/NurPhoto)

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