A week before the International Whaling Commission is due to meet in London, a Japanese official has admitted that his country is using cash to help persuade countries to vote to lift an international ban on whaling. Japan’s fisheries minister, Maseyuku Komatsu, told Australian television today that Japan must use overseas aid as one way to influence countries that are members of the IWC. Six Caribbean nations voted with Japan last year on almost every motion before the IWC. In other whale news, 22 airlines organized by Greenpeace have joined together to refuse to transport whale products from Norway. Norway lifted a ban on exports of whale meat and blubber earlier this year.
