Via Japan Probe:

Anti-whaling campaigners said Obama was signaling a tougher US stance leading into the meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opening Monday in Rome which is set to look at a controversial compromise proposal.

Japan hunts hundreds of whales a year in the Pacific and Antarctic using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium that allows “lethal research” on the ocean giants. Norway and Iceland defy the moratorium altogether.

“The United States continues to view the commercial whaling moratorium as a necessary conservation measure and believes that lethal scientific whaling is unnecessary in modern whale conservation management,” said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality.  [AFP]

I have to wonder if President Obama has even bothered researching this issue or just making his policy based off the lies put out by the anti-whaling groups?   I would love to ask President Obama if he knew that the minke whale that is hunted by the Japanese is in fact plentiful in the world’s oceans?

Even the global warming doomsayer from Australia, Tim Flannery has come out and said Japanese whaling is not a environmental conservation issue and that the hunted whale populations are sustainable:

ENVIRONMENTALIST and 2007 Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has declared his support for the hugely unpopular Japanese whaling program.

As Australia prepares to monitor the whaling fleet in Antarctica amid rising diplomatic tensions with Japan, Professor Flannery says there is nothing unsustainable about its annual cull of up to 1000 whales – particularly the common minke whale.

“In terms of sustainability, you can’t be sure that the Japanese whaling is entirely unsustainable,” Professor Flannery told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s hard to imagine that the whaling would lead to a new decline in population.” [The Daily Telegraph]

So why is the Whitehouse concerned about conserving something that is already plentiful other then they have fallen for the eco-loon propaganda?

You can read my thoughts on what to do with Japanese whaling here.