Dr Joth Singh, IFAW’s Director of Wildlife and Habitat Protection at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said the information imbalance exists because of inaction by anti-whaling nations.

“I think that everyone will agree that supporters of Japan and the Japanese position with respect to whales and whaling this has been very, very well-organised,” he said during an IFAW-sponsored, two-day Caribbean Whale Conservation Forum here.

Dr Singh said Japan’s “investment” in trying to overturn the moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the IWC in 1986 “is bearing fruit.”

“Many expect that the pro-whaling camp will have the simple majority at this year’s IWC meeting and that will have been a result of tremendous activity by the pro-whaling camp and particularly by the Japanese to build support within the IWC,” he told participants from ten Caribbean nations.

And, Japan is confident that the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will maintain its pro-whaling stance.

“I am quite sure that those countries will see reason in our argument that sustainable use of fisheries resources, including whaling resources, is a reasonable proposition,” Ryotaro Suzuki, Tokyo’s Director of the Fisheries Division of the Economic Affairs Bureau said on Wednesday.

He said Tokyo is trying to convince IWC member-nations that responsible management of the whaling resources is important and Japan is trying to “get as much support as possible for Japanese whaling.”

He said issued relating to whaling should be discussed scientifically and not based on emotions. “We should put that sort of argument elsewhere,” Suzuki said.