Since the unprecedented ruling in 2014 of the International Court of Justice against the Government of Japan whaling program in Antarctica (JARPA II), the Japanese government has developed and implemented a political strategy to continue hunting minke whales in the Southern Ocean. Given that the IWC has not had the capacity to enforce the Court’s ruling and considering the implications of the continuation of Japan whaling policy in Antarctica for the governance and security of the Southern Ocean, the issue of Antarctic scientific whaling should become a matter of concern for the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS).