Following the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC's) passage on September 18, 2014, of a resolution opposing Japan’s "scientific whaling" program, the Japanese government announced last Friday its intention to continue whaling. The non-binding IWC resolution, which passed by a 35-20 majority at the group’s biennial meeting in Slovenia, follows a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March, which declared Japan’s whaling practices illegal; the IWC resolution states that Japan should abide by the ICJ ruling. Maintaining Japan’s long-held stance that most whale species are not endangered and whaling is an important part of Japanese culture, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga stated, "Our actions are based on international law, scientific fact and the international whaling treaty." For the full story, see http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/19/us-environment-japan-whaling-idUKKBN0HE07R20140919.