Protesters from the environmental group Greenpeace called on Japan to stop the annual killing of more than 500 whales and implored Bush to publicly declare his stance on the practice. Stop the whaling. Japan gave up commercial whaling in compliance with an international moratorium in 1986 but says it continues to catch some whales for scientific research.
Japan is the world's biggest consumer of whale meat.
Previous President Clinton suspended Japanese access to fishing rights in U.S. waters last September in response to Tokyo's decision to expand its hunt to include Bryde's whales and sperm whales, species protected by U.S. law. Greenpeace wants Bush to adopt a similarly firm stance. We would like him to keep the option of sanctions open and use that as a diplomatic tool to bring about change. The U.S. Humane Society said in November it had asked Washington to certify that Japan's whaling undermined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international agreement that governs trade in rare animals.