From The Guardian – Jan. 6, 2011

American diplomats proposed Japan reduce whaling in exchange for US help
cracking down on the anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd, leaked cables
reveal.

Japan and the US proposed to investigate and act against international anti-whaling activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as part of a political deal to reduce whaling in Antarctic waters.

Four confidential cables from the US embassy in Tokyo and the state department in Washington, released by WikiLeaks, show US and Japanese diplomats secretly negotiating a compromise agreement ahead of a key meeting last year of the International Whaling Commission, the body that regulates international whaling.

The
American proposal would have forced Japan to reduce the number of
whales that Japan killed each year in the Antarctic whale sanctuary in
return for the legal right to hunt other whales off its own coasts. In
addition, the US proposed to ratify laws that would “guarantee security
in the seas” – a reference to acting against groups such as Sea Shepherd
that have tried to physically stop whaling.

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