提到捕鲸，不免首先要想到日本。然而最近日本宣布，为了重启商业捕鲸，或将退出国际捕鲸委员会，允许捕鲸船在附近海域和专属经济区捕鲸。这真堪称是鲸鱼们的大灾难。

日本要“退群“？

Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in a bid to resume commercial whaling, Kyodo News reported on Thursday, citing government sources.

据日本共同社本周四报道，日本政府相关消息人士透露，日本将退出国际捕鲸委员会，以重启商业捕鲸。

commercial whaling: 商业捕鲸

Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC is planned for 2019 and will be announced by the end of this year, according to the report.

报道称，日本将在明年退出国际捕鲸委员会，这一决定将在年底公布。

Kyodo quoted unnamed government sources as saying Japan would abandon its controversial, and expensive, expeditions to the Southern Ocean and instead permit whaling fleets to operate in its coastal waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

日本共同社援引政府消息人士的话说，日本将放弃在南极海域开展的颇具争议且费用高昂的捕鲸，而是允许捕鲸船在日本附近海域和专属经济区进行商业捕鲸。

A fisheries agency official denied the report, however, insisting no decision had been taken on whether to withdraw from the IWC, which banned commercial whaling in 1986.

但日本渔业部门的一位官员否认了这一报道，坚称还没有最终决定是否退出国际捕鲸委员会。国际捕鲸委员会从1986年开始禁止商业捕鲸。

“Japan’s official position, that we want to resume commercial whaling as soon as possible, has not changed,” the official told the Guardian. “But reports that we will leave the IWC are incorrect.”

这位官员告诉《卫报》说：“日本想要尽快恢复商业捕鲸这一官方立场没有改变。但有报道说我们将退出国际捕鲸委员会是不正确的。”

Australia’s environment minister, Melissa Price, said it remained opposed to “all forms of commercial and so-called ‘scientific whaling’”, adding: “While we would strongly prefer Japan to remain a party to the convention and a member of the commission, the decision to withdraw is a matter for Japan.”

澳大利亚环境部长梅丽莎-普莱斯说，澳大利亚仍然反对“所有形式的商业捕鲸，或所谓的‘科研捕鲸’”。她补充说：“尽管我们强烈支持日本留在国际捕鲸委员会，但是否退出是日本自己的决定。”

Agence France-Presse quoted an official as saying the agency was “considering all options”, including the possible withdrawal from the 89-member commission. A foreign ministry official confirmed “all options are on the table but nothing formal has been decided yet”.

法新社援引日本一位官员的话说，渔业部门正在“考虑各种选择”，包括可能退出有89名成员的国际捕鲸委员会。日本外务省一位官员确认说：“我们正讨论所有的选择，但还没有正式决定。”

招致国际社会谴责

二战后日本几乎没有退出国际组织的先例，上述举措实属罕见。遭到国际社会轻视规则的指责将在所难免。

Darren Kindleysides, chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said: “Leaving the IWC would set a very dangerous precedent for other international treaties and conventions. ”

澳大利亚海洋保护协会首席执行官达伦-金德利塞兹说：“日本退出国际鲸鱼委员会会给其他国际条约或公约开一个非常危险的先例。”

precedent['presɪd(ə)nt]:  n.先例；前例

"The IWC has become the driving force for global whale conservation efforts in the 21st century. If Japan is serious about the future of the world’s whales, they would not leave the IWC.”

他说：“国际鲸鱼委员会已经成为21世纪全球鲸鱼保护的一股重要力量。如果日本认真考虑全球鲸鱼的未来的话，就不会退出委员会。”

新西兰鲸类和海豚信托基金代表利茨·斯洛滕说，如果日本退出，可能在国际捕鲸委员会引发严重后果：一些国家或许会效仿，这一国际组织可能分裂。

日本为何要退出？

据日本共同社报道称，若今后留在国际捕鲸委员会，重启商业捕鲸的希望极其渺茫，因此日本政府提及退出的可能性，而实现明年退出的通知期限为明年1月1日，现已临近。

Japan has previously threatened to quit the IWC, arguing that the moratorium was supposed to be a temporary measure and accusing the IWC of abandoning its original purpose – managing the sustainable use of global whale stocks.

日本之前就曾威胁退出国际捕鲸委员会，辩称暂停捕鲸只是一种临时措施，并指责国际捕鲸委员会已经背离了初衷，即管理全球鲸鱼资源的可持续利用。

moratorium[,mɒrə'tɔːrɪəm] : n.暂停，中止

Japanese officials claim that populations of certain types of whale – such as the minke – have recovered sufficiently to allow the resumption of “sustainable” hunting.

日本官员声称，某些种类的鲸鱼（如小须鲸）的数量已经恢复到足够多，可以允许“可持续性的”捕鲸活动。

Japan has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is a cherished part of its food culture.

日本一直认为，大多数的鲸鱼种群并不濒危，而且吃鲸鱼肉是其饮食文化中宝贵的一部分。

At September’s IWC meeting in Florianópolis, Brazil, anti-whaling nations led by Australia, the European Union and the US voted down a Japanese proposal to change the decision-making process – a move that would have made it easier for Japan to secure enough votes to end the commercial whaling ban.

今年9月，在巴西佛罗利亚诺波利斯市举行的国际捕鲸委员会会议上，以澳大利亚、欧盟和美国为首的反对捕鲸的成员否决了日本提交的改变决策程序的提议。按照这一提议，日本能更容易地得到足够多的投票支持，以取消商业捕鲸禁令。

The defeat prompted Japan’s IWC commissioner, Joji Morishita, to warn that the country’s differences with anti-whaling nations were “very clear” and that it would plan its “next step”.

这次失败促使日本的国际捕鲸委员会代表森下丈二警告说，日本与反捕鲸国家的分歧“非常明显”，将计划采取“下一步行动”。

 澳大利亚2008年2月7日公布的这张照片显示，一艘日本捕鲸船将猎杀的一头母鲸和一头幼鲸拖进船舱。 新华社发

Japan has been able to use a clause in the IWC moratorium allowing it to conduct “research” hunts every year and to sell whale meat on the open market, although consumption has plummeted in recent decades.

日本利用国际捕鲸委员会的一项条款，每年进行“科研”捕鲸活动，并在公开市场出售鲸鱼肉，不过近几十年来此类消费下滑很多。

Japan faced criticism earlier this year after reporting that its whaling fleet had killed 122 pregnant whales during its annual research hunt in the Southern Ocean last winter. Of the 333 minke whales caught during the four-month expedition, 181 were female – including 53 juveniles.

去年冬天，日本的捕鲸船在南极海域开展每年的科研捕鲸活动时，猎杀了122头怀孕鲸鱼，这在今年早些时候招致批评。这次科研捕鲸活动为期四个月，在捕获的333头小须鲸中，181头是雌性鲸鱼，其中还包括53头幼鲸。

In 2014, the international court of justice ordered Japan to halt its annual hunts in the Southern Ocean after concluding that they were not, as Japanese officials had claimed, conducted for scientific research.

2014年，海牙国际法庭要求日本停止每年在南极海域进行的捕鲸，此前日本政府宣称在南极捕鲸的目的是用于科研，但法庭否认了这一点。

But Japan resumed whaling in the region two years later under a revamped program that included reducing its catch quota by about two-thirds.

但两年后，日本新出台了计划，将每年在南极海域的捕鲸数量减少三分之二，并恢复了捕鲸活动。

Japan would join Iceland and Norway in openly defying the ban on commercial whale hunting.

另外两个公开违抗商业捕鲸禁令的国家是冰岛和挪威。