26 July
2006 - A report released this week on the so-called
scientific whale hunt conducted by Japanese whalers
is simply a mask for what is essentially a commercial
whaling exercise, the Australian Minister for
the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell
said today.
A Japanese Government report
on the second phase of the Japanese whalers’ annual
whale hunt confirmed that over 1,000 whales were
slaughtered in the Southern Ocean this past summer.
The report was submitted to the International
Whaling Commission and confirms many of the whales
killed were pregnant or nursing whale calves.
“Let’s be realistic: what Japanese
whalers are doing in the Southern Ocean is not
science. It is simply thinly-veiled commercial
whaling,” Senator Campbell said.
“Australian researchers have
already demonstrated that scientific research
on whales can be conducted non-lethally. A recently
completed Australian survey gives us by far the
most comprehensive assessment of the marine ecosystem
in the whole eastern Antarctic area – the very
data that Japanese whalers claims they are seeking
to justify their lethal ‘scientific whaling’.
“The information required to
meet these objectives is precisely the type of
data that Australia has already collected – without
killing a single whale.”
The report also confirmed that
much of the Japanese whale hunt occurs in Australian
Antarctic waters in the Southern Ocean. Australia’s
claim to these waters is recognised only by New
Zealand, Norway, France and the United Kingdom.
There will be renewed calls
for the Australian Government to take legal action
against whalers for killing whales in Australian
waters.
“The Australian Government wants
to put an end to scientific whaling and while
we don't rule out legal action our position, and
that of the UK and NZ Governments, is that it
is not likely to be successful at this stage and
could indeed be counterproductive.
New Zealand’s International
Whaling Commissioner and former NZ Labour Prime
Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, said earlier this
year: “We have been looking at the legal theories
that are available against the Japanese for some
months…and there is no legal theory that is available
that can prevent, in our view, the Japanese from
doing what they are doing…A sovereign government
cannot undertake legal action unless it has a
good chance of success.”
The Australian newspaper, 16
Jan 2006
“We will continue of course to pursue those strategies
that have the best chance of success until we
chieve our ultimate goal of putting a permanent
stop to whaling,” Senator Campbell said.
Rob Broadfield
