South Korea says it plans to begin scientific whaling, a move which has been roundly condemned by New Zealand and Australian officials.
Kang Joon-Suk, the South Korean delegate to an International Whaling Commission (IWC) gathering in Panama, told the secretariat the government was considering conducting whaling for scientific research.
The announcement triggered criticism by delegates from New Zealand, Australia and other anti-whaling nations that have long been infuriated by Japan's whaling expeditions in Antarctic waters.
The head of New Zealand's delegation to the IWC, Gerard van Bohemen, said South Korea would be putting whale populations at risk and said that Japan had not contributed to science after years of expeditions.
South Korea's plan was "unnecessary and borders on the reckless. New Zealand is strongly opposed to Korea's proposal,'' he said.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the so-called scientific whaling programme in the North West Pacific was "a serious setback for those who are committed to conservation of the species".
"The portrayal of this initiative as a 'scientific' programme will have no more credibility than the so-called scientific programme conducted by Japan, which has long been recognised as commercial whaling in drag.
"In this day and age there is simply no need to kill whales in order to conduct effective research.
"New Zealand has raised its voice against this proposal at the IWC meeting and I have instructed that our Ambassador in Seoul take immediate steps to register our serious concerns with the Korean government."
Australian opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said the move was a complete surprise and a deep disappointment.
"The world is moving away from whaling, this is a practice of the past," he told ABC television.
"We would roundly reject this and I think this is an area where there could be very strong bipartisan support in Australia to oppose the push for a renewal of whaling by South Korea."
Dr Kang said the government had conducted non-lethal sighting surveys of the whale population to assess the status of the stock in its waters but it alone could not identify the different whale stocks, he said.
The minke whale population had recovered since a whaling moratorium began, he said.
"As a result, fishermen in this area are consistently calling for limited whaling," he said.
"This is because they are experiencing disturbances in their fishing activities due to frequent occurrences of cetaceans in their fishing grounds and an increasing number of minke whales are eating away large amount of fish stocks which should be consumed by human being (sic)."
Dr Kang did not provide numbers, areas or a timeline for scientific whaling. But other delegates said they expected South Korea would target minke whales in the Sea of Japan, which Koreans call the East Sea.
The IWC has imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986 amid fears for the survival of the ocean giants.
But it appears South Korea will join Japan in exploiting a loophole that allows the killing of whales for scientific research.
South Korean delegates said they would submit future whaling plans to a scientific committee of the global body but were not looking for approval by other nations.
South Korea carried out scientific whaling for one season after the 1986 moratorium went into effect. Whale meat remains popular in the coastal town of Ulsan, which serves remains of whales "accidentally" caught in nets.
- AAP/APNZ
