21 December 2007 - International
— The Japanese government has confirmed a
rumour first reported at the Greenpeace weblog,
that they have abandoned plans to kill humpback
whales in the Southern Ocean this season.
That no humpback whales will be hunted down
and killed in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
is good news indeed, and a victory for Greenpeace
supporters the world over who have joined
with us in demanding action from their governments,
participated in promoting non-lethal alternatives
to whale research through our Great Whale
Trail, and questioned the Japanese government
directly about plans to expand the whale hunt
through the building of a new whaling ship.
(Oh, and all of you who told your friends
to vote for Mister Splashy Pants in our whale-naming
competition, you did your part too.)
But even better news would be that no fin
whales or minke whales are to be slaughtered
either. That not a single harpoon will breach
the Whale Sanctuary at all is the news that
the world is waiting for.
But whaling has not ended. Japan still plans
to kill fin and minke whales this year. Saving
one species is not enough. We all need to
do more NOW to stop the hunt forever.
Scandal
The entire so-called scientific whaling programme
is a two decades old scandal, and by backing
down today on the humpback hunt, Japan has
acknowledged that it fears further scrutiny
of a hoax that has nothing to do with science.
Japan's whaling program is in deep trouble.
Japan has backed down in the face of public
outrage over killing the favourite whale of
whale-watchers. Japan has also realised that
the humpback whalemeat that would result from
the hunt was going to be legally challenged
under the Convention on the International
Trade in Endangered Species.
Secret plans to build new ship threatened
The Japanese Fisheries Agency was clearly
alarmed at the mounting attention being paid
to a "research program" which yields
no useful science, and which adds to a stockpile
of unsold whalemeat which hardly anyone buys.
They are worried about the attention the humpbacks
have drawn to their plans to kill 935 minkes
and 50 endangered fins. But most of all, they
are worried about attention being drawn to
the plans of a few bureaucrats within Japan
who are planning a massive expansion of the
whale hunt, by constructing a new whaling
factory ship at a cost of some US$125 million
to US$188 million, at the expense of Japanese
taxpayers.
Now is the time to press for an end forever
The future of whaling could well depend upon
whether a new factory ship gets built or not.
We believe the Japanese taxpayer has a right
to ask whether billions of Yen should be invested
in this industry -- espectially given that
it generates no useful science, adds to a
mountain of unsold whalemeat, poses a diplomatic
liability to Japan, and in the end profits
only a very few bureuatcrats.
For nations that support whale conservation,
now is the time to press Japan to abandon
the whale hunt entirely, and to stop the build
of a new Nisshin Maru.
