Source: High North Web - News section. Dec 16, 1996.
Japan has made a proposal to downlist several whale stocks from Appendix I to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The proposal will be submitted to the forthcoming meeting of the CITES parties, which is to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, June 1997.
The Japanese draft proposal includes the following whale stocks: The Southern Hemisphere and the North Pacific stocks of minke whale, the North Pacific Western stock of Bryde's whale, the North Pacific eastern stock of Gray whale and Southern Bottlenose.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency writes in the draft proposal that "the most recent findings from the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission clearly demonstrate that the populations of those whales are at the highest level in recent history", and that "a limited trade in whale products from those stocks under Appendix II, will not be detrimental to the survival of the species concerned."
The draft proposal has been distributed to the 41 range states and the relevant intergovernmental bodies for consultation. The final proposal will be submitted to CITES in January 1997.