The new Japanese government has defended the country's annual whale hunt, saying that whaling is justifiable for research purposes.
The remaining argument against whaling is an ethical one: whales are highly developed mammals, and it is immoral to prey upon them.
The research whaling is needed to assess whether whale stocks are recovering from overfishing, Japan has said.
Japan has long argued that their whaling is scientific and crucial to understanding whale populations worldwide.
(Never mind that whaling is supposedly banned; Japan claims it stills whales for science, which is like saying a man hits a woman because he loves her).
"Scientific whaling is being used to permit commercial whaling and whale sanctuaries are not being respected, so this compromise stands in the way of conservation.
"Whaling is an economic loser," said Patrick Ramage, IFAW's whale program director, at the press conference.
Determining the causes of the decline of American whaling is complicated by the complex spatial changes in whales and whaling.
A Japanese official told AFP: "Japan's whaling is purely for the purposes of obtaining scientific data, so that whale resources can be sustainably maintained".
While few Japanese eat whale, public opinion is generally sympathetic to the government's claims that whaling is part of Japanese culture.
