WHEREAS since 1986, Japan has presented documentation on the localised and small-scale nature of community-based whaling in Japan, and the socio-economic and cultural importance of whalemeat production, distribution and consumption in four small coastal whaling communities;
WHEREAS community-based whaling in Japan has many characteristics in common with various aboriginal/subsistence whaling;
WHEREAS extensive anthropological research has demonstrated that the cessation of minke whaling in these communities has affected individuals economically, socially, spiritually and culturally, in a manner that threatens the vitality and viability of the communities;
WHEREAS the Commission has considered an action plan containing the essential elements required to manage a limited harvest of minke whales and distribution of the products for these four communities;
WHEREAS the Government of Japan is prepared to give formal assurances that the meat of minke whales to be taken within the framework of community-based whaling shall not become the object of any commercial distribution, but rather exclusively for subsistence purposes;
WHEREAS the report of the Scientific Committee allows the conclusion that a small take of minke whales from the North Pacific is not liable to endanger the stock in question;
WHEREAS the Commission at its 45th Annual Meeting has expressed its sympathy and understanding of the socio-economic and cultural needs of the four coastal communities in Japan and the distress to these communities which has resulted from the cessation of minke whaling;
Now THEREFORE:
The International Whaling Commission, at its 45th Annual Meeting, RECOGNISES the socio-economic and cultural needs of the four small coastal whaling communities in Japan and the distress to these communities which has resulted from the cessation of minke whaling and,
RESOLVES to work expeditiously to alleviate the distress to these communities which has resulted from the cessation of minke whaling at its next Annual Meeting