President Johnson Toribiong met with Kenro Iino, Japan’s special envoy to discuss whaling programme.
“We are shifting our vote, instead of voting with Japan we are proposing a quota, to cut down the hunting of minke whales to half,” the president said.
Palau is a member of the International Whaling Commission since 2002 and is one of the pro-whaling nations supporting Japan’s research program.
An IWC meeting is scheduled on June 24 in Morocco and Palau is sending its representatives to make known of their stand on the matter.
Iino is the Special Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Toribiong said during the meeting,Iino stated that the whales consume fish stocks more than the humans.
Earlier the president said that his government will review its current position on whaling to ensure the country does not contribute to the depletion and extinction of whales.
Australia, a donor country to Palau, has lodged a legal action in the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands on Monday following what it called unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to end Japan’s whaling.
Japan is however the largest donor to Palau after the United States.
President Toribiong recently declared Palau as a shark sanctuary before the United Nations General Assembly. He said the country also needs to protect other marine species in Palau.
A moratorium of commercial whaling has been in place since 1986. Japan however continued to hunt whales for research which is criticized by anti-whaling countries.
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