An End to Japanese Whaling?

I seriously doubt it, despite the Greenpeace report in Wildlife Extra News.. It's too much a matter of international pride. (I know, I know, I'm always a pessimist....but I'm so good at it!)

A major review of Japanese government spending could spell the end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, according to Greenpeace, after the review committee proposed massive cuts in subsidies to a body which funds the so-called scientific research programme.

The Spending Review Committee recommended that the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Fund (OFCF), which gives loans to the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) to run the discredited science programme, have all of its funding revoked, except monies needed for loans in 2010.