Scientists protest Japan whaling

In an open letter to the scientific journal Nature, 30 members of the 200-member scientific committee that advises the IWC have called for an urgent overhaul of the scientific process used by the commission to manage whale populations, describing the existing system as "a waste of time."

Andrew Brierley, a professor of marine biology at the University of St Andrews, is one of the authors of the letter and said the decision to publish was one borne of "frustration" at Japan's disregard of the commission's recommendations.

"Japan claims to have sincerely taken in account the view of the scientific committee and the view of the independent review panel, but in actual fact they haven't changed anything substantial in their scientific proposal," he said.

"[Japan] are going ahead to do what they set out originally to do regardless of any scientific opinion."

Japan suspended its annual whale hunt in 2014 after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that its whaling program — known as JARPA II — was not based in science and was therefore illegal.

Despite the ruling, Japan has designed a new whaling program, called NEWREP-A, which it submitted in November 2014 to the IWC's scientific committee for assessment.

The new research plan means that less whales will be killed, and that the hunt will take place over a larger area of the Southern Ocean.

Despite the revised scientific plan, the IWC's scientific committee found that there remained insufficient justification for killing whales in the name of science under the new program.

In December, Japan ignored that finding, with its whaling boats leaving port bound for the Southern Ocean with the aim of catching up to 333 minke whales.

'Japan is at liberty to do whatever they want'

Professor Brierley and his colleagues are calling for changes to be made at the IWC.

"Japan does not require the approval of the International Whaling Commission. All that Japan is required to do — or indeed that any country is required to do — is to present the proposal for consideration," he said.