Closures, resignations
and cancelled celebrations - 12 November 2008 - International
— As the whaling fleet prepares to depart Japan, evidence
is mounting of an industry in crisis, as new revelations
of financial and image problems add to the woes of the
scandal-plagued industry.
The Institute for Cetacean Research,
which conducts Japan's whaling programme, and Kyodo Senpaku,
which operates the whaling fleet, this week announced
the closure of the whaling industry's flagship 'Yushin'
whale meat shop and restaurant in Asakusa, Tokyo due to
ongoing financial problems.
The shop, an iconic symbol of whaling
in Japan, will close its doors in 2010. That's the same
year that the Jarpa II research programme -- under which
whales are killed in the guise of "scientific reserach"
will be reviewed.
Unable to find all-Japanese crew for
"traditional" hunt?
In addition, informants inside the whaling industry tell
us that for the first time the taxpayer-funded whaling
fleet will not be 100 percent Japanese-crewed, due to
the resignation of many crew members following the recent
whale meat embezzlement scandal exposed by Greenpeace
in May 2008. Our undercover investigation found that valuable
cuts of whale meat were being smuggled ashore by the crew
of the Japanese whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru, for
illegal trade and personal gain, at the Japanese taxpayer's
expense. One crewmember had boasted that he had built
a house on the proceeds from his personal whale meat sales.
Yushin whale meat shop, Asakusa, Tokyo,
to be closed in 2010 ©Dave Walsh
Given the air of scandal, it's not surprising
that the whalers may also be cancelling their traditional
departure party. We received reports of the potential
cancellation of the traditional high-profile ceremony
in the whaling fleet's home port of Shimonoseki, which
marks the departure of the whalers for the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary. The fleet is expected to depart later
this week, from another port, where it will be seen off
only by families of crew members and officials from the
whaling operation.
We busted their refrigerator
This series of embarrassments follow
last month's deflagging of the whaling fleet's refueling
and cargo ship, Oriental Bluebird, after being ruled in
violation of a number of domestic and international regulations
as a result of work Greenpeace and local environmental
groups took to inform Panamanian authorities of irregularities
in the ship's operation. The Oriental Bluebird had a Panamanian
flag.
"As any commercial operator knows,
when your business is universally condemned, when you
can't hold onto your staff and when almost no one will
buy your products - its time to shut it down", said
Sara Holden, our International Whales Campaign coordinator.
"Although whaling officials claim
the decline in business is due to a lack of supply, the
Institute for Cetacean Research's own figures flatly contradict
this; the stockpile of whale meat is actually increasing,
which shows that there is no market for whale meat in
Japan." According to Japan's Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries, there were 2800 tonnes of whale
meat in storage at the beginning of 2008, which has increased
to 4200 tonnes by September 2008.
Orwellian: Expose a crime, get arrested
Greenpeace's campaign to end whaling in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary has increasingly focused on the authorities
in Japan, where 71 percent of the public do not support
Japan's whaling programme. As a result of the Greenpeace
investigation into embezzlement of whale meat from the
factory ship Nisshin Maru, Japanese authorities mounted
a politically motivated prosecution of two Greenpeace
activists.
Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, known
as the Tokyo Two, have been denied their liberty for 145
days, since exposing the corruption. They will be put
on trial early next year, and face up to 10 years in jail
for intercepting whale meat stolen by crew from the whaling
factory ship Nisshin Maru.
Amnesty International has denounced
the arrest as being politically motivated, and in a periodic
evaluation completed last month, the United Nations Human
Rights Committee severely reprimanded the Japanese government
for the "unreasonable restrictions placed on freedom
of expression" in Japan. It also condemned the abuse
of trespass laws by Japanese police to harass activists
who are critical of government policy.
"The extreme reaction by the authorities
shows Greenpeace's work in Japan has put the whaling establishment
under pressure" said Jun Hoshikawa, Executive Director
of Greenpeace Japan. "The whale meat market has clearly
collapsed and is unprofitable, and the stigma of scandal
and corruption has made it an unattractive and less lucrative
industry to work for. The whaling industry's days are
numbered, and it's time for the Japanese taxpayer to demand
the government stops subsidising this bankrupt programme."
