Japan says it will resume commercial whaling in July 2019 despite a ban on whaling that had been in place since 1986.

The move by Japan is likely to draw international criticism, even as the country is set to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the body tasked with whale conservation.

Commercial whaling was banned by the IWC in 1986 after some species were driven almost to extinction.

Officials in Japan, an IWC member since 1951, say eating whales is part of the country’s culture.

For many years Japan has hunted whales for what it calls “scientific research” and to sell the meat, a programme widely criticised by conservationists.