Seoul announced it will resume whaling under an exception in the global moratorium that allows scientific research, drawing fierce criticism from conservationists at home and abroad.

The Korean delegation at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission held in Panama City said on Wednesday that they will submit a plan on whaling to the IWC scientific subcommittee.

The delegation said that Korea will conduct whaling only in its territorial waters and that it does not need foreign approval.

Seoul will announce later how many whales it plans to catch, where and when, they said.

“We will submit the plan late this year or early next year as the IWC requires such plans to be handed over at least six months ahead of the IWC’s annual meeting, which is held around June, for review by the working groups,” said an official at Seoul’s Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Korea’s plan to start whaling for scientific research purposes at the cost of offending conservationist nations comes mainly out of complaints that the increasing number of the predators was dealing a blow to the fishing industry.

The number of whales in the waters near Korea has rapidly surged since the 1986 global moratorium to an estimated 86,000.

“Whales eat about five percent of their weight every day, and people in the fishing industry claim that whales are consuming about 200,000 tons of fish including squids every year when Korea’s annual catch from coastal fishing is about 1 million tons,” the ministry official said.

“We need to conduct scientific research to verify the damage on the fishing industry, and that is the main reason for the whaling plan.”

Japan continued to hunt whales even after 1986 using the scientific research provision, enraging environmentalists.

The Korean Federation for Environmental Movement slammed the Seoul government for following Japan.

The civic group called on the government to immediately cancel the whaling plan and have the Environment Ministry deal with policies related to whales.

Policies related to whales are currently handled by the fisheries policy department of the ministry.

Kang Joon-suk, a member of the delegation at the IWC meeting, said consumption of whale meat “dates back to historical times” in Korea and that the minke whale population had recovered since the 1986 moratorium went into effect.

“Legal whaling has been strictly banned and subject to strong punishment, though the 26 years have been painful and frustrating for the people who have been traditionally taking whales for food,” he told the conference.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)