Japan's whale-research vessels are now scheduled to return to port after completing their observations and sampling in the northwestern Pacific. Meanwhile, the United States continues to criticize Japan's research program and threaten trade sanctions. One can't help but suspect that all the antiwhaling rhetoric and the presidential election are related.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta recently described Japan's whale-research program as "preposterous." But it is not Japan's whale-research program that is preposterous. Rather, it is Mineta's threat to impose trade measures against Japan for the take of 10 sperm whales and 50 Bryde's whales for research purposes that is preposterous. Perhaps, like most Americans, the secretary is unaware that his government supports the killing of more than 60 bowhead whales each year in Alaska from a truly endangered (World Conservation Union red list) and drastically depleted population of 7,000, and that whaling in the U.S. produces approximately the same amount of whale meat each year as the byproducts of Japan's whale-research programs.

It is also apparent that the secretary has received an inadequate briefing concerning the response of the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee to Japan's whale-research programs. Contrary to his statements, the committee has praised both the quality and quantity of data from these programs and stated that the results provide valuable information for management of whale stocks. The committee has further noted that nonlethal means of collecting much of this data are unlikely to be successful. This is hardly surprising, since to study the diet of whales one needs to examine the contents of their stomachs.