The International Whaling Commission met in Rome last week and according to the Environmental News Service a disturbing trend towards resuming commercial whaling has developed. Rather than continue work on a detailed whale management plan based on tested scientific procedures, the Commission decided to go ahead with an ad hoc quota plan being developed by countries that want to resume commercial whaling. Conservationists see this decision as a capitulation to the demands of whaling nations such as Japan which has killed 5,000 whales in the past five years for so-called "scientific purposes" The IWC science committee concluded in 2007 that many questions about whale survival such as mortality rates remain unanswered despite this "research". The reality is that whale meat is a prized food commodity in Japanese markets. Whale meat is equivalent to our best beefsteaks. The proposed deal would grant Japan unlimited minke whaling rights in coastal waters in exchange for reducing its harvest in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The IWC chair, a holdover from the previous US regime is leading the new effort to resume whaling. The plan is being condemned by anti-whaling organizations. Director of the whale program for the International Fund for Animal Welfare said, "science is being thrown to the whalers like Christians to the lions in ancient Rome." The head of the Sea Shepherd organization, which mounts direct actions to disrupt whaling operations in the Southern Ocean called for the removal of the American chairman of the IWC. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (WV-D) has sent a letter to the acting Commerce Secretary asking for a replacement. The House of Representatives is on record to end commercial whaling around the globe. The Obama administration favors continuing the IWC's moratorium.[Bryde's whale on deck of Japanese vessel. Current population numbers are unknown, Institute for Cetacean Research]