Japan should resume whaling in its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone if its disagreement at the International Whaling Commission is not resolved this year to allow resumption of commercial hunting, a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker said Wednesday.
Yoshimasa Hayashi presented the proposal in an interim report released by the ruling party's IWC task force.
The IWC's meetings are under way in Ulsan, South Korea, through late June.
"If no improvement (in the disagreement between conservationist and whale-hunting countries) is seen, we think it fit that our country should resume whaling on its own based on proper scientific basis and measures for supervision and management," Hayashi told a news conference.
Hayashi said the task force envisions whale hunting in stages with respect to a proposal submitted during the previous IWC meeting in Sorrento, Italy, on the Revised Management Scheme designed to pave the way for resuming commercial whaling.
Observers believe discussions on the RMS are expected to make little headway due to the huge gaps between conservationist nations and those that advocate whale-hunting.
The latest interim report follows one the task force compiled Jan. 23 last year. In it, the group called on Japan to consider several options, including withdrawing from the IWC, joining a different international organization, and forming a new international body.
Hayashi, a member of the House of Councilors and secretary general of the LDP lawmakers' federation on whaling, said they will continue to pursue different ways of addressing the issue within the framework of the 61-member IWC based in Cambridge, England.
In the past, the government has said quitting the IWC is an option, given the odds against Japan's whaling policy.