MATTHEW CARNEY: It's the whale-watching season and the chase is on.

TOURIST ON BOAT: There.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Humpback whales are travelling up the east coast of Australia to breed in the warmer waters of the Pacific. On the way, they're putting on a show. The humpback is a remarkable story of survival. Their numbers plummeted to just a couple of hundred. Since the end of full-scale whaling in 1986, they've recovered to tens of thousands.

TOURIST ON BOAT: I think it was really amazing, because I've never seen whales up that close before.

TOURIST ON BOAT: Watching the whales was, for me, a dream for a long time.

TOURIST ON BOAT: They shouldn't hunt whales. I mean, they should leave them for people to enjoy watching them.

MATTHEW CARNEY: But the fate of these and all other whales is in the hands of the International Whaling Commission, the IWC. Despite Australia's recent victories at the IWC, the organisation is powerless to stop the slaughter of whales. Their chief hunters, the Japanese, have a long-term strategy to return to commercial whaling. Japan has long been accused of vote buying and bribery at the IWC. Tonight, for the first time, Four Corners uncovers the hard evidence of just how Japan fights the whale wars.

Dominica is the smallest of nations. It's a beautiful but impoverished Caribbean paradise. The country markets itself as 'Nature Island' to bring in the tourists and their dollars. But, amazingly, Dominica uses its vote at the IWC to support Japan in the killing of whales.

ATHERTON MARTIN: I'll see you on Thursday, you know.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Former environment minister and cabinet member Atherton Martin says Japan bought Dominica's vote with aid.

ATHERTON MARTIN: That is more than extortion and, I mean, I don't think the international legal community has yet come up with a term to describe this blatant purchasing of small country governments by Japan. I mean, that has to go down in legal history as being, you know, the high end of public sector extortion.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Japan stands accused of stacking the IWC with poor nations in need of money. At the IWC, Dominica has the same voting power as Australia or America. Dominica is an easy target. Its economy was crushed by a collapse in world banana prices. But Japan denies the charges.

So you believe that vote buying is wrong; right?

JOJI MORISHITA: Wrong, yes.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Totally and absolutely, and has to be really fought against in this commission; right?

JOJI MORISHITA: Yeah, I keep saying that the politicisation of this organisation should be stopped and all the countries coming here should have a real interest in this issue and should come on their own help to this organisation.

MATTHEW CARNEY: However, in the year 2000, Japanese officials came to Dominica and said they needed its vote at the upcoming IWC meeting. Atherton Martin says he convinced cabinet not to vote with them. But, according to Martin, the then prime minister overturned the decision because the Japanese had threatened there would be no more aid without their vote. Martin resigned in protest.

ATHERTON MARTIN: I felt that, if it was that easy for a foreign government to walk into my country and with the promise of aid to get a cabinet decision to be reversed in complete defiance of the elements of trust and comradeship that exists in a cabinet, that is not a process that I wanted to be a part of because I felt it was unfair to me as an individual, to the institution of government and, most importantly, it was unfair to the people of Dominica.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Since Dominica joined the IWC the aid has been flowing in the form of fishery processing plants. In total, it's received almost $60,000,000 from Japan.

In the neighbouring island of Grenada, Michael Baptiste, the IWC commissioner from 1997 to 1999, freely admits that Japan bought his country's vote with aid.

MICHAEL BAPTISTE: Japan gives assistance to Grenada to help develop their fishing, their fisheries industry, fishing industry. So that would be one of the reasons that we would vote that way, and I'm sure if we were getting assistance from - that kind of assistance from other - from any other source, we would probably vote that way too. But it's simple: you vote based on your common interests.

How're you doing? Everything good?

SPEAKER: Yeah.

MICHAEL BAPTISTE: All right, all right. Very good, okay.

MATTHEW CARNEY: What the Baptiste case shows is that, once the Japanese had secured a country's vote, they then made sure they turned up at the annual IWC meetings. When Baptiste was commissioner, he says that pro-whaling individuals would pay for his expenses. He would meet them at airports en route to the IWC.

MICHAEL BAPTISTE: I would get to an airport and someone would meet you at the airport and, you know, pay for your, you know, pay for your expenses, give you - hand you moneys for your expenses. I can't say it was the government of Japan because they have never identified themselves as such. So I can't say it's the government of Japan, but individuals would do so, yeah.

MATTHEW CARNEY: In 2003, Baptiste was charged by his government with fraud after allegedly pocketing the money that was meant for Grenada's IWC dues. Baptiste denies the charges. In the vicious fight of claim and counter-claim that erupted between Baptiste and the government, this telling letter from the Accountant-General of Grenada emerged. Four Corners has authenticated the letter. It says Japan paid for Grenada's IWC fees and states: "The Japanese have confirmed that it made contributions to the government of Grenada for the specified periods." It's the best evidence yet of Japanese vote buying, but now all sides are denying the contents. Grenadian journalist Leslie Pierre believes the Japanese bought other Caribbean countries in exactly the same way.

LESLIE PIERRE: It really is distressing as far as I'm concerned. I feel that we must have more respect for ourselves as a country. As a small but independent country, we must have more respect and vote our conscience.

MATTHEW CARNEY: For Japan, building a Caribbean bloc was just the first step in a long-term strategy to take control of the IWC and overturn the ban on commercial whaling. They've now moved on to the Pacific. Anti-whaling nations, led by Australia, have mounted a rearguard action to stop Japan's progress. Australia's environment minister, Senator Ian Campbell, went on the offensive. He gave Four Corners access to a last-minute trip to lobby Pacific leaders for their vote at the IWC. The Solomon Islands was the first stop.

Early signs didn't look good. The local fisheries minister was in Japan, but the Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza, was present.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: The Prime Minister, John Howard, sends his very warm regards.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Campbell put the pressure on the Solomons, a country heavily dependent on Australia for aid and security.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Well, all I can do is to, you know, really look at the political leadership in the eye and firstly say that Australia takes this very seriously. These countries have a great relationship with Australia. They - you know, it's a partnership to try and build up the Pacific. They need to understand that our political leadership takes this very seriously. It's one of the important national environment issues for us.

MATTHEW CARNEY: The Solomons usually line up with Japan at the IWC, but on this day Campbell claimed success.

Prime Minister, can I ask: what is the Solomon Islands' position on whaling?

PRIME MINISTER KEMAKEZA: Our position is we were going to vote against the re-opening of research and we will be abstained from this vote.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Sorry, you're going to vote against -

PRIME MINISTER KEMAKEZA: Commercial, yeah.

MATTHEW CARNEY: You're going to vote against what, sorry?

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Voting no to the scientific research expansion and abstaining from the vote on commercial whaling.

PRIME MINISTER KEMAKEZA: Yeah, yeah.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Australia has gone hard on the issue of whaling conservation, but it's a tough sell in the Pacific Islands. They're resentful at what they see as Australia's inaction on climate change and rising sea levels.

Kiribati, the next stop, is the newest Pacific member of the IWC. Japan has played on another fear here that whales eat fish. Kiribati has been watching its tuna stocks deplete, and they blame the whales, and that makes Campbell's job much harder.

SPEAKER: Senator Campbell, welcome to Kiribati.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Great to be here.

SPEAKER: It's a pleasure.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: The best I'm hoping for out of Kiribati is to get them to take the Solomons' position, and that's the position I put to them last night: that that would be really fantastic if they could follow the Solomons' lead, and don't unnecessarily offend Japan, just abstain from the key vote.

MATTHEW CARNEY: In two weeks, Senator Campbell lobbied 11 countries across the globe. But whether he'd done enough to preserve the anti-whaling majority would be revealed at the IWC conference at Ulsan in South Korea. The worry for Campbell was that Japan had strengthened its position in recent years.

Day one in Ulsan, a former whaling town, now one of South Korea's biggest and dirtiest industrial centres. The International Whaling Commission had taken over this hotel with delegations from 66 countries fighting it out to determine the fate of the world's whales. On the first day, the Australian delegation met early to put together a battle plan.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: The cold hard count that we've gone through over the last 24 hours is that basically if they all show up we're going to be one or two votes behind.

MATTHEW CARNEY: It's a numbers game, and initially it didn't look good. For years, Japan had been gaining numbers and three more pro-whaling countries joined the IWC at the last minute.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: We basically need to do a roll call. We need to - so we've agreed with the Kiwis that we will confer early in the morning on who's actually arrived.

MATTHEW CARNEY: The shock for Australia was that Nauru, another country reliant on Australian aid, had just joined and was rumoured to be with Japan.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Well, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Jim McLay, the two former New Zealand prime ministers who are here, said to me that this isn't about conservation, it's not about whales, it's not about welfare; this is all about numbers. Well, that's the truth.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Japan took its place in the conference hall. In the past, it's been renowned for an abrasive style but this year changed tack and appointed the smooth-talking Joji Morishita as the public face of the delegation. He says an attack on whaling is an attack on their culture and country.

JOJI MORISHITA: We have been proud of our culture in many sense, but almost overnight you were told from the others, the outside world, that what you are doing is just barbaric and what you are eating is something very wrong. But you feel that that has been in your culture for a long time, even if you are not eating recently, and you feel like you are imposed upon some different culture or value quoted from outside, and that's why some people see this issue as one of a symbol of eco-imperialism or some people even say the racism.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Behind the scenes, the Japanese marshalled their forces. This year's meeting, one step on a long road. They orchestrated tactics with the Caribbean and African blocs they control. They were making sure the new arrivals, like Cameroon, knew what to do. The process at the commission is chaotic. New countries can join at any time, and a delegation can move to change the agenda whenever they want to. Nicola Beynon is from the Humane Society International and part of the Australian government delegation.

NICOLA BEYNON: I've worked on a number of different environment treaties, and the tactics that get used at the whaling commission are nothing like what you see in other forums. It does get very dirty and it gets aggressive, and the tactics employed are, you know, quite scandalous, really.

IWC CHAIRMAN: You are welcome to this annual meeting number 57, which I now formally declare open here in Ulsan, Korea, on Monday ...

MATTHEW CARNEY: The chairman started by listing the new members of the IWC and then asked if they were present.

IWC CHAIRMAN: Mali? Not present?

MATTHEW CARNEY: Initially, many of the new members in Japan's bloc did not turn up, a good omen for Australia.

IWC CHAIRMAN: As far as I am informed, the two latest on my list, Nauru and Togo, are absent. But am I wrong? Okay.

DELEGATE: Let me make my point ...

MATTHEW CARNEY: From the opening minutes, Japan and Australia were fighting over points of order.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: I think it's not fair to every other country that are here to accept that. It might be fair to let other people speak. I'm not going to speak again, but Japan shouldn't speak twice.

JOJI MORISHITA: We are proposing this proposal, and we have a right to respond the point raised. It shouldn't be long; it's a very short statement.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: I think we should move to the vote. I think you have been very fair in this, and I think Japan is being unreasonable, and I am not going to add to that unreasonability.

MATTHEW CARNEY: While the bickering continued, Australia and New Zealand were working on the bigger issue. Japan proposed the gutting of the conservation functions of the IWC and returning it to a whalers forum. Australia and New Zealand conferred and realised they might have the numbers if they called a quick vote against Japan's proposal.

IWC SECRETARY: In this case, you vote 'yes' if you support the motion from Australia, and obviously you vote 'no' if you disagree with Australia. Mexico?

DELEGATE: Yes.

IWC SECRETARY: Yes. Monaco?

DELEGATE: Yes.

IWC SECRETARY: Yes. Mongolia?

MATTHEW CARNEY: Australia won by just one vote, a good start, but Senator Campbell's team was starting to get suspicious of the Solomons. They voted for Japan three times on the first day.

IWC SECRETARY: Solomon Islands? MAN:

DELEGATE: No.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Australia needed the Solomons' vote if they were to win upcoming ballots.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Yeah, I'm sorry we couldn't catch up when I went to the Solomons but ...

MATTHEW CARNEY: Senator Campbell decided to confront the Solomon Islands delegate, Fisheries Minister Paul Maenu. He wanted to make sure Maenu lived up to the promise his Prime Minister gave Campbell.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: You know, when a guy looks you in the eye and says he's going to either abstain or walk out of the room and shakes your hand, I come from a tradition of respecting that until proved otherwise.

CHRIS CARTER: Well, last year for the Solomons we had an assurance that they would abstain on the South Pacific sanctuary

MATTHEW CARNEY: At the end of the day, ministers and delegates came together from Britain, New Zealand, America and Australia for a debrief.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: I think it's been a terrific co-operation between our countries. It was a tricky session this morning and.

MATTHEW CARNEY: But they were curious as to how Nauru, a virtually bankrupt country, would pay for its membership.

SPEAKER: They've paid?

SPEAKER: Who?

SPEAKER: The Nauru ...

SPEAKER: No. I don't think so.

SPEAKER: So they haven't paid. So, even if they turn up, they may have a problem paying?

SPEAKER: They probably won't.

SPEAKER: Cash, cash has been delivered today.

SPEAKER: There was - there was a genuine brown bag today.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Day two was the main game. Japan proposed a vote for the resumption of commercial whaling, through a ballot on a revised management scheme, or RMS.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Now, are we waiting for anybody or?

MATTHEW CARNEY: The good news was that Nauru had not shown up.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Our good Pacific neighbours are still in Australia; is that right?

SPEAKER: Are leaving Australia this morning.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. So they won't be here today, and I guess the vote that we've been focusing on for the last 12 months really occurs today, on the RMS. That's the main one. So the fact that they're not here is likely to be beneficial.

MATTHEW CARNEY: But would the African countries of Togo, Mali and The Gambia turn up?

SPEAKER: So the tactical issue today is timing on - whether to keep it moving forward and get to a vote as quick as we can.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: And delaying it doesn't actually help us much anyway, really, 'cause, I mean, the numbers are only going to get worse.

MATTHEW CARNEY: In the first session Japan laid out its plans for its RMS: a return to commercial whaling. They say some species of whale, like the minke, are so abundant they're depleting fish stocks and destroying the marine ecosystem. They also claim the minke is threatening the recovery of other whales, like the blue. On this rationale, the Japanese argue for a return to commercial whaling. Australia and the pro-whaling bloc were outraged.

CHRIS CARTER: The proposal in front of us lacks these features. It represents a return to the dirty deals of the past, when this organisation was widely known as the 'Whalers' Club'.

MONACO DELEGATE: The Japanese text has great merit. It reflects a splendid ignorance by Japan of 10 years and more of discussions, negotiations and hard work by the parties to this convention. In our minds, this text is basically a monologue of Japan with itself.

MATTHEW CARNEY: However, delegate after delegate from the Caribbean and Africa spoke out in favour of Japan's proposal.

IWC CHAIRMAN: And now it is Solomon Islands.

MATTHEW CARNEY: In a surprise move, the co-sponsor of the commercial whaling proposal was none other than the Solomon Islands.

PAUL MAENU: The proper management of the whale resources and the orderly development of the whaling industry are fundamental principles enshrined in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The collective development and the eventual enhancement of a revised management scheme by all parties to the convention in the association with the revised management procedure.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Campbell was furious and rang Canberra.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Phenomenal, quite phenomenal.

MATTHEW CARNEY: But there was no stopping the vote.

IWC SECRETARY: And we're voting on the proposal made by Japan for an RMS, as given in document IWC 57/19. You vote 'yes' if you support Japan's proposal, 'no' if you're against the proposal. Mongolia?

DELEGATE: Yes.

IWC SECRETARY: Dominica?

DELEGATE: Yes.

IWC SECRETARY: Yes. Kiribati?

DELEGATE: Abstain.

IWC SECRETARY: Abstain. Republic of Korea?

MATTHEW CARNEY: In the end, Australia won the vote comfortably: 29 against the proposal and 23 for it.

NICOLA BEYNON: It was great that Kiribati abstained as well. I think the Australian government would be very pleased with that.

MATTHEW CARNEY: It meant no resumption of commercial whaling, at least for this year.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: This is a terrific result for whales. We did, as a world, look seriously over the edge of an abyss that would have seen the world step, for the first time in two decades, towards re-opening commercial whaling.

MATTHEW CARNEY: But Campbell was left bewildered by the Solomons.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: Obviously the Solomon Islands have issues within their government. They have to deal with those. Quite clearly, the Australian government is incredibly disappointed with them.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Do you suspect foul play at all?

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: I - I - all I know is what's happened is they promised to do one thing and did the other and the result is foul.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Four Corners can reveal why the Solomons changed their vote. The week before the IWC conference we visited the Solomon Islands to investigate claims of Japanese vote buying. The two previous Solomon Islands IWC commissioners told us, "Japan pays for everything."

Did the Japanese pay the IWC membership fees every year?

ALBERT WATA: Ah, yes. The Japanese pay the government's subscriptions. They support the delegations to the meetings, in terms of meeting airfares and per diem.

MATTHEW CARNEY: As permanent Secretary of Fisheries, Albert Wata controlled the department for 10 years. He was the IWC commissioner in the '90s. Despite Japan's insistence it did not buy votes, Wata says it paid for a reason.

ALBERT WATA: They wanted the government's support of the - to support their position at the IWC.

MATTHEW CARNEY: As fisheries minister, Nelson Kile, led the Solomons' delegation for the last three years at the IWC.

The Japanese pay your membership fees for the IWC, don't they?

NELSON KILE: Ah, yes, they do.

MATTHEW CARNEY: And they've been paying it for how long?

NELSON KILE: The Japanese have paid our membership - I'm not really sure but probably for 10 years, I think.

MATTHEW CARNEY: But even before Australia arrived in Ulsan, the Solomons had started to change their position. Just two days after Senator Campbell had secured the Solomons' support for Australia's IWC position, Prime Minister Kemakeza did a backflip. He wrote a letter to the Japanese embassy in Honiara, saying he would now support Japan's proposal for scientific whaling, a reversal confirmed by Tione Bugotu, the permanent Secretary of the Fisheries Department.

TIONE BUGOTU: Yes, yes, yeah, I think in a sense you could see that as a change. But then what I'm aware of is that the Prime Minister has - has actually made very clear to the embassy of Japan that the Solomon Islands will continue to support a reasonable number of whales to be killed for the purpose of scientific research.

MATTHEW CARNEY: The Japanese have been buying the loyalty of fisheries in the Solomons for more than 30 years. Much of their aid has been directed towards fisheries, and the Japanese have spent millions of dollars training and developing fisheries officers like they did with Nelson Kile.

So you were trained by the Japanese yourself, were you?

NELSON KILE: Ah, yes, I did training in Japan, and actually I can speak Japanese.

MATTHEW CARNEY: In return, the Japanese not only want support for whaling at the IWC but cheap access to the rich tuna waters off the Solomons. The Japanese pay a part of the fee for their tuna fishing rights in goods such as speedboats, fishing gear and computers, in theory for the proper functioning of the Fisheries Department, but in practice politicians in the Solomons use this equipment like a slush fund come election time.

TIONE BUGOTU: It's the general practice, a member of parliament will pick up equipment - nets, tackle, fishing lines, hooks - and they would then be responsible for distributing it.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Bugotu came into the department to clean it out, and now he's also investigating the theft of millions of dollars in cash paid by the Japanese for tuna fishing rights.

TIONE BUGOTU: The fact is that this is money which is due to the government of the Solomon Islands as revenue from fisheries, and by law the money should be paid direct into consolidated funds, and that was not what happened. The money had been diverted elsewhere, and certain officers chose to help themselves.

MATTHEW CARNEY: And what were they doing with the money, exactly?

TIONE BUGOTU: It became their personal - became their personal funds.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Can I just ask you a question?

Back in Ulsan, the current Solomons IWC Commissioner, Paul Maenu, refused our request for an interview. As the minister responsible, we wanted to talk to him about the corruption in his department and the relationship between Japan and the Solomon Islands.

Can I ask you: who paid for your trip here?

PAUL MAENU: No, no.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Because Albert Wata, Albert Wata -

PAUL MAENU: He's finished.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Albert Wata, yeah, and also Nelson Kile said that the Japanese have paid for all of your expenses and your trips and your fees here. So can you tell me if that's the case? Who's paid for your trip?

PAUL MAENU: We are coming on our bilateral agreement.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Okay, can you tell me also, for the goods and services that the Japanese pay also, that - Tione Bugotu told me also that that's been corrupted, that people in Fisheries have been taking money out of that.

PAUL MAENU: No, that's not during my time.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Why would they - are you saying that they are lying that the Japanese have paid for your trips here since 1992?

PAUL MAENU: I am not telling lies. Tell them 'liars'. I think that's during their time. They are no longer there now. I am the Minister of Fisheries.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Despite the confessions from Wata and Kile, Japan denies it's paying for the Solomons delegation.

JOJI MORISHITA: I don't believe that happened.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Well, that's what they told me.

JOJI MORISHITA: Mmm.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Why do you think they would tell me that?

JOJI MORISHITA: I have no idea. We will look at this issue.

MATTHEW CARNEY: And what - how will you look at it exactly and what will you -

JOJI MORISHITA: Maybe we - you can give me some names you've just stated, and we have an embassy there and we have fisheries or tuna fisheries relations with these people and we can talk about it with them and what was their intention and why they told you so.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Japanese tactics tend to obscure a significant debate going on at the IWC: whether commercial whaling can be resumed without threatening the survival of the species. Ray Gamball was the secretary of the IWC for 24 years. For eight years, he oversaw an investigation looking into the feasibility of commercial whaling. It was done by five groups of independent scientists.

RAY GAMBALL: Against all expectations they came up with a way of setting catch limits which is probably the most robust and best management regime that's ever been devised for certainly marine resources and perhaps any natural resources throughout the world.

MATTHEW CARNEY: The conclusion was that limited commercial whaling of some species like the minke would not threaten whale stocks. Gamball thinks Japan should be allowed to hunt these whales.

RAY GAMBALL: Japan always acts totally within the rules that are laid down, and the situation has been in the past that they have taken catches which are definitely sustainable and I don't see any reason why they would change that policy of working within a sustainable limit.

JAPAN IWC DELEGATE: "Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to present a summary of our research programs in" ...

MATTHEW CARNEY: But the Japanese have never succeeded in getting the IWC to adopt a management plan for small-scale commercial whaling. So they've reverted to scientific whaling.

JAPAN IWC DELEGATE: "I would like to introduce an outline of the JARPA II, our new research program in the Antarctic. As you see on the screen here."

MATTHEW CARNEY: Japan can exploit a scientific loophole in the IWC Charter. Under Article 8, it can legally kill as many whales as it likes.

JAPAN IWC DELEGATE: "This sheet shows the target whale species and their sample size. Target species include Antarctic minke whales, fin whales and humpback whales.

MATTHEW CARNEY: This year the Japanese have announced they will double their kill of minke whales to more than 900; but also 50 humpback and 50 fin whales, both endangered species. In protest, the majority of IWC delegations and their scientists boycotted Japan's proposal.

NICK GALES: When it was just a few, then it was an issue that people felt strongly about and there was a lot of frustration about. But the numbers are so high now at a time when whales are recovering and they should be protected and allowed to recover, that it really is an unregulated form of commercial whaling and I think that needs to be brought under control. It's a very serious issue.

MATTHEW CARNEY: This is rare footage of the Japanese scientific whaling fleet in action in the icy waters of the Antarctic. This hunt lasted five months. The Japanese say it's all about science, but this film shows it's also a gruesome commercial venture. On this trip, the three catcher ships harpoon three to five whales a day. The harpoons are aimed at the body. Often a second one is required. If the whale is still not dead, a gun is used.

NICOLA BEYNON: The harpoon has an exploding grenade in the end. So the whale is killed by the explosion, and it can take several minutes for the whale to die. They're intelligent animals. They've got, you know, social systems and they feel pain and they die slowly.

JOJI MORISHITA: I try to look at this issue as scientific as possible. Their intelligence level is quite comparable to a cow. So it's a big animal, and if you think cows are intelligent, yes, whales are intelligent. But if you think these animals are stupid, well, you have to say that whales are stupid.

MATTHEW CARNEY: On board the factory ship, teams of meatworkers and scientists carve up the whales. The butchery is done with precision. Everything is measured and weighed, even the foetus. The Japanese say they're slaughtering the whales to discover more about populations and their distributions and their eating and mating habits. But scientists who have boycotted the scientific whaling say you can get this information without killing whales.

NICK GALES: Now, you can do that with a biopsy gun taking a little plug of skin tissue. You don't need to kill the whale to collect a very small amount of skin. So the techniques are important, and at the Australian Antarctic Division we do a lot of work on developing powerful, non-lethal techniques to understand population biology and ecology.

MATTHEW CARNEY: The Japanese argue they still need to kill because of this: the earplug. Each year a new layer of wax is laid down on it just like the rings in a tree. It shows how old the whale is. But, while this is all going on, they're boxing and shipping the meat to sell for millions of dollars back in Japan.

SIR GEOFFREY PALMER: In our view it is a disguise for commercial whaling. Its reason for existence is to keep the whale meat market in Japan supplied, even though Japan can't formally go commercial whaling. So the program, in our view, is a sham.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Back on the floor of the convention, Australia's Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, wanted to get a protest vote up against Japan's scientific whaling proposal.

JOJI MORISHITA: The science should be the basis of this organisation, and Article 8 of the Convention is very clear about the right of a contracting government to conduct the research activities, including killing animals.

MATTHEW CARNEY: The taking of 50 humpbacks is a direct hit against Australia's whale watching industry.

SENATOR IAN CAMPBELL: And it's very difficult for Australia to understand how the proposal can be called science.

MATTHEW CARNEY: While the anti-whaling bloc was marshalling its votes, Nauru turned up just 20 minutes before the vote.

IWC CHAIR: I will announce that we have a new member to welcome; Nauru.

MATTHEW CARNEY: Nauru immediately met with the Japanese. They refused a request from Senator Campbell for a meeting. Nauru claimed its interest lay in fish stocks. Australia suspected vote buying.

MARCUS STEPHEN: It's not even an issue. It's not true. I don't even want to discuss this. It's not an issue because, like I said, we have only one resource that we are all concerned. If Australia does not see our concern, then I think that's Australia's issue, that's not our issue.

SECRETARY: "Okay, I will start to proceed with the votes on the resolution on JARPA II proposed by."

MATTHEW CARNEY: But in the vote the majority of countries censured Japan's proposal for scientific whaling. It was another win for Australia, but a serious loss of face for Japan. The delegation responded with a threat.

JAPAN IWC DELEGATE: Some of you who seemed glad that some pro-sustainable use countries could not attend this year's meeting. However, next year they will all participate. The reversal of history, the turning point is soon to come.

MATTHEW CARNEY: So why do you stay in the IWC?

JOJI MORISHITA: That's a good question, actually. Many people back in Japan asking the same question, and we will have more difficult time to explain the reason after this meeting back home. Now we have to have a serious discussion, at the same time very cautious discussion, about this situation, and the withdrawing from this organisation is unfortunately on the table.

MATTHEW CARNEY: And that's the problem. The IWC can't stop the slaughter or stop Japan from walking out. The sting for Australia is that many of the whales that the Japanese will harpoon will be killed in the Australian declared Antarctic whale sanctuary, and little can be done about that either. IWC old hand and former New Zealand Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, says the IWC is a failure and should be thrown out. It's a view many share.

SIR GEOFFREY PALMER: What is really needed for the International Whaling Commission is a new legal framework, a new treaty, a new set of rules. There are no adequate enforcement mechanisms in this treaty. There's no dispute settlement mechanism in this treaty. It lacks all the features of a modern environmental treaty, and it really needs to be redone.

MATTHEW CARNEY: After the key votes were over, the delegates enjoyed a gala dinner. In a world where environmental regulation is cumbersome and ineffectual, the IWC has less to celebrate than most. In the next 12 months more whales will be killed than in any other year since commercial whaling was banned.