18 December
2006 - Australia has joined anti-whaling allies to protest
against Japan’s scientific whaling programme, known as
JARPA II.
The Australian Minister for the Environment
and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, announced today that
in a joint diplomatic representation the governments of
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile,
Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States
have united to express serious concerns about the departure
of Japan’s whaling fleet on 15 November to Antarctic waters
to kill whales in the name of science, and called upon
Japan to halt its so-called scientific whaling operations.
“This is the largest number of governments
in recent times to express jointly their deep concern
that the Government of Japan will continue its controversial
so-called scientific whaling programme (JARPA II). This
year Japan plans to kill up to 935 Antarctic minke whales
and 10 endangered fin whales,” Senator Campbell said.
“Next year, Japan will start to hunt
humpback whales under this JARPA II programme. A number
of the humpback whales that will be killed by JARPA II
are likely to be known to researchers on the east and
west coasts of Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and
Tonga and may have been catalogued in photographs as part
of existing non-lethal scientific research programmes.
“Pro-conservation nations have expressed
serious concern that these non-lethal scientific research
programmes will be undermined by JARPA II. Some of the
humpbacks which will be targeted on their summer feeding
grounds are likely to belong to small, vulnerable populations
that winter in the South Pacific, including some that
remain critically endangered.
“Far from benefiting the scientific
community Japan’s whaling will undermine international
efforts to conserve and protect whales,” Senator Campbell
said.
“While Japanese scientific whaling is
permitted under the rules of the International Whaling
Commission (IWC), there is no scientific justification
for the increasing scale of Japan’s scientific whaling
programme. It is difficult not to conclude that Japan
is conducting a commercial whaling programme in the Southern
Ocean,” Senator Campbell said. At the IWC two years ago
member countries, led by Australia, adopted a resolution
calling for Japan to withdraw its JARPA II proposal. However
this resolution is non-binding and as such Japan is not
obligated to comply.
Further information about how the Australian
Government is protecting whales can be found at www.saveourwhales.gov.au
Rob Broadfield (Senator Campbell's office)
