Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday took issue with Japan's plan to resume commercial whaling in a telephone call with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

According to a statement from his office, Trudeau said he "raised the important issue of whale conservation and committed to working with international partners to protect whale species."

Japan announced last month that it was withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and would resume commercial whaling this year, sparking criticism from activists and anti-whaling countries.

The commercial hunts, however, would be limited to Japan's territorial waters, said a top Japanese government spokesman.

And Japan will not be able to continue so-called scientific research hunts in the Antarctic and elsewhere that it has been exceptionally allowed as an IWC member.

The IWC, established in 1946 to conserve and manage the world's whale and cetacean population, introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.

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Japan bolts whaling commission, but tensions may ease
Washington (AFP) Dec 28, 2018
Japan has made good on years of threats by bolting the International Whaling Commission, but its decision may also offer a way out of tensions that looked inextricable. Japan, which calls whaling part of its cultural heritage, said Wednesday it would withdraw from the seven-decade-old commission which since 1986 has banned commercial killing of the ocean giants. But while Japan vowed to forge ahead with full-fledged commercial hunts off its coast, it put a halt to its most provocative whaling -- ... read more