In the end, environmentalists’ fears proved unfounded. The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Ulsan, South Korea, closed on 25 June with no real change to the status quo. But Japan stood by its plans to increase its “scientific” catches.
The meeting had opened to fears among the anti-whaling bloc, led by New Zealand, Australia and the UK, that pro-whaling nations might finally gain a majority among the 66 member states (New Scientist, 18 June, p 6). “We all thought Japan would gain the numbers this year,” says Michael Kennedy of Humane Society International in Avalon, New South Wales, Australia. “They didn’t, but…
