"AMSTERDAM -- Australia will try to persuade judges that Japan's scientific whaling program is commercial whaling in disguise in a case between the countries that opens in The Hague on Wednesday."

"Japan introduced scientific whaling to skirt a commercial whaling ban under a 1986 moratorium. It argues it has a right to monitor the whales' impact on its fishing industry.

But Australia, which filed its case at the International Court of Justice in 2010, says Japan's scientific program in the Southern Ocean is a cover for commercial whaling."

Thomas Escritt reports for Reuters June 25, 2012. [2]