First
ever reduction in minkes to be targetted
by "research whaling" - 13 November
2008 - Tokyo, Japan — Good news for the
whales comes in threes. And then you get
a dollop of extra. Asahi Shimbun, one of
Japan's biggest newspapers, reports there
will be a 20 percent reduction in the number
of whales targeted in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary hunt this year -- the first
reduction since 1987.
The report cites lack
of demand for whale meat, pressure from
protests at sea and the continued opposition
from Europe and Australia as reasons for
the reduction in the minke whale quota from
945 minke whales to 1000. The quota of 50
endangered fin whales remains unchanged.
The news follows hard
on the heels of Greenpeace revelations that
the industry has been unable to crew this
year's voyage with an all-Japanese crew
for the first time, that the traditional
ceremony seeing the fleet off from Shimonoseki
has been cancelled, and that 'Yushin,' the
flagship whale meat shop and restaurant
in Asakusa, Tokyo, will close shop in 2010
due to ongoing financial problems.
4,200 tonnes of unsold
whale meat
In reports on the closing
of the Yushin restaurant, the whalers cited
a lack of supply, rather than a reduction
in demand, as the reason for their financial
problems. But the Institute for Cetacean
Research's own figures show 4,200 tonnes
of whale meat sitting surplus in storage
-- an increase over last year, and Asahi's
article points to a trend that our own polling
confirms: fewer and fewer Japanese people
are eating whale meat.
Those polls also confirm
that very few Japanese citizens even know
that their tax money is being used to prop
up the whaling industry. We're pushing that
message out through our office in Japan,
and believe that as the Japanese people
learn more about how much whaling costs,
and how corrupt the programme is, domestic
pressure will become key in the government
deciding to hang up the harpoons.
"We are seeing
the beginning of the end of whaling in the
Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary," said
Sara Holden, our International Whales Campaigner
"If today's reports are true we congratulate
the Japanese government for making this
first step, but they can and must go further
and we will not stop until the quota is
zero."
Years of campaigning
paying off
The last time Japan
reduced its take, it was due to the moratorium
on commercial whaling, which we and a handful
of other environmental groups fought long
and hard to win from the world's oceans
to the halls of the International Whaling
Commission. That single piece of work has
saved the lives of tens of thousands of
whales and ended the whaling programmes
of the Soviet Union, Brazil, Peru, Chile,
and Spain.
Japan used a loophole
which allows the killing of whales for "scientific
research" to continue whaling in the
Southern Ocean, though at a far reduced
rate.
Greenpeace has sent
ships to interfere with the hunt in the
Southern Ocean nine times since the Japanese
government research whaling programme in
the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary began
20 years ago, including keeping them on
the run for more than two weeks last season,
saving hundreds of whales.
Winning in Japan
Opposition inside Japan
is also growing thanks to the work of our
Japanese office.
Earlier this year two
Greenpeace activists in Japan were arrested
for exposing corruption within the whaling
programme. Whaling in Japan has had little
press attention, but that changed when we
unveiled boxes of stolen whale meat on live
television, prompting calls from Japan's
media and the Tokyo public prosecutor for
a full investigation of abuse of taxpayer's
money.
Instead, our own activists
were arrested.
The political prosecution
of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki has been
denounced by Amnesty International 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."
