Commercial whaling has been banned since 1986. Until last year, Japan conducted what they claimed was scientific research on minke, humpback and fin whales. These programs were controversial in part because the research was usually lethal for the whales and because the meat from the whales was sold on the commercial market in Japan.

This research was considered legal, by Japan, because of a clause in the 1946 whaling convention which allows whales to be killed for scientific research purposes.

In March of this year, the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) headquartered at the Hague in the Netherlands, ruled that Japan’s program didn’t meet the criteria of scientific research. Among other things the court ruled that Japan’s failure to consider nonlethal methods and failure to justify sample sizes were unacceptable.

At the time of the ruling, Japan announced that it would end the program. However, according to the Associated Press, Japan now plans to resume their whale research with some revisions to address the ICJ ruling.

On Wednesday, Japan’s Fisheries Agency announced that fin and humpback whales are being taken off the target list and its program in the Antarctic will shift to non-lethal methods. Minke whales will still be hunted using lethal methods, but the sample size has yet to be finalized.

“Collecting the necessary data requires lethal research, which was acknowledged in the ICJ ruling. We’ve yet to decide on the size of the catch next year. . . . We plan to submit the new plan to the IWC’s scientific committee for approval in October or November,” said an agency official to the Japan Times.

Environmental and conservation groups have long argued that Japan’s program is about commercial whaling and has little or nothing to do with science. The Japanese have a history of commercial whaling which is believed to date to the 12th century.

Many whale species including humpback, fin and minke whales, are considered endangered or threatened. While overfishing, pollution and ship strikes are all threats, commercial whaling has done the greatest damage to whale populations around the world.