Australia has named a whaling envoy to coordinate diplomatic pressure to stop Japan's annual hunt, which may resume in the Southern Ocean later this year.
Sandy Hollway, a former diplomat and chief of the Sydney Olympics, was appointed special envoy for whale conservation, Environment Minister Peter Garret said Monday.
Hollway will promote "the government's objective of ending Japan's so-called scientific whaling and improving the conservation of whales globally," Garret said in a statement.