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RSS FeedCan Japan Convince International Community to Support “Sustainable” Whaling?
by Ben Block on February 22, 2008
The International Whaling Commission’s 78 members are meeting in London next month in an effort to reach agreement on whale conservation rules. Meanwhile, global whale hunting continues to increase.
The March 6–8 gathering, titled “The Future of the IWC,” will prepare IWC member states for their annual meeting in Chile this June. Delegates at the June conference will likely face considerable pressure to produce an agreement on the future of whaling, particularly in light of rising catches by Japan and other countries.
“There has been an expansion of scientific whaling and whaling by objection, by number and species, and that’s worrisome,” said Doug DeMaster, a marine mammal biologist and the acting commissioner for the March meeting’s U.S. delegation. “The IWC isn’t managing commercial whaling. It isn’t doing a good job of that now.”
The international community agreed in 1982 on a global moratorium on commercial whaling, but previous accords allow whaling if conducted “for the purpose of scientific research.” During the 2005–06 hunting season, Japan captured at least 800 minke whale, double the number from a decade earlier. This season, on top of the minke harvest, Japan had planned to catch 50 humpback whales and 50 fin whales, but it agreed to halt the humpback hunt due to mounting international pressure.
Japan is advocating for a change in the IWC’s so-called Revised Management Scheme that would allow for “sustainable” whaling. With most whale populations still recovering from severe losses in the 19th and 20th centuries, no such management plan currently exists. According to the Japanese, science-based whaling is needed to research whales’ ages, population size, and diets. “While certain information can be obtained through non-lethal means, other information requires sampling of internal organs, such as ovaries, ear plugs and stomachs,” said Joji Morishita, Japan’s director of negotiations, at the Pew Tokyo Whale Symposium in January.
Japan’s government-financed Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) is often criticized for conducting unnecessary whale research. “Industrial nations killed 2 million [large whales] in the Southern Hemisphere in the last century. The science conducted on those whales was from commercial operations,” observed Scott Baker, a biologist at Oregon State University. “It’s hard to believe that more science is needed that we didn’t get from [those].” Critics also accuse the scientific whaling program for serving as a front for Japan’s alleged attempts to monopolize the Pacific’s whale meat market.
To change the IWC’s existing agreements, a three-fourths vote is necessary. Whaling is opposed by at least half of the member countries, including most vociferously Australia but also the United States. “Many member nations are uncomfortable, unsatisfied with the compliance features of the management scheme, and they will not support a proposal,” said U.S. delegate DeMaster. The European Union, which is not “yet” a party to the IWC, has also publicly chastised Japan’s whaling program.
In addition to diplomatic pressure, Japan is facing tremendous difficulties on the high seas. Australia’s new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has sent custom officials to spy on the ICR’s whaling vessel, the Nisshin Maru. Earlier this month, Australia released a gruesome video of a mother and calf harpooned and dragged on board the ship. Meanwhile, Greenpeace has stalled refueling efforts by wedging a small inflatable craft between a fuel tanker and the whaling vessel. Japanese officials accuse another activist group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, of “hurling stink bombs”—glass bottles containing butyric acid—at the ICR ship.
Such stunts may be forcing Japan to catch fewer whales. Already, the country’s whaling program appears to be facing considerable financial pressure. The ICR did not pay back 1 billion of the 3.6 billion yen the government loaned it in 2006, The Asahi Shimbun reported this month. Meanwhile, whale meat suppliers are struggling to find a market, and about 4,000 tons remained in cold storage last year, said Greenpeace ocean campaigner John Frizell, who closely monitors all whaling operations.
Japan is not the only offender being targeted. Norway and Iceland kill some 600 and 30 whales, respectively, each year, in objection to IWC rules. And while whaling is illegal in South Korea, any whales accidentally tangled in nets can be sold legally on the market. Even so, more species—including humpbacks—are found for commercial sale in the country than are officially reported to the government, suggesting a growing Korean black market. Last month, a sting operation against an alleged whaling racket seized 50 tons of minke meat, resulting in wide-scale arrests.
On March 1, just before the IWC’s London meeting, Sidney Holt, former secretary of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, will host about 30 researchers at his home in Italy to discuss conservation measures and whether “sustainable” whaling is an ecologically viable option. “Scientists wrote to me saying they’re really tired of being reactive on the whaling commission; they should start to be proactive,” said Holt, who now advises the non-profit groups Global Ocean and the Third Millennium Foundation. “Things are happening that aren’t going to be comfortable in Tokyo.”
Wrong Information
First of all Greenpeace did not prevent refueling. Get that part right. They did what is called ocean posing... they drove into the water spray, shot photos, went between the ships and then got out of the way and... left the area.
Secondly, it is illegal to refuel in the anarctic.
Thirdly it is illegal to whale in a SANCTUARY.
JAPAN IS ILLEGALLY WHALING IN A SANCTUARY. JAPAN IS ILLEGALLY WHALING ENDANGERED SPECIES IN A SANCTUARY.
Fourth, THERE IS NO HUMANE WAY TO KILL A WHALE.
There is no need of whale flesh, which is laden with mercury, out of water. No one eats it except the dogs that Japan is poisoning and the school children whose school lunches are made of whale. They don't even like it.
Whales are sentient beings. They are intelligent, curious, sensitive and gentle. If you're going to sanction the agonal and barbaric slaughter of whales, you may as well do the same for criminals and serve them up as food. They aren't even intelligent, curious, sensitive or gentle. But no one wants to eat them either.
As far as Sea Shepherd goes, in 30 years of activist work, they have NEVER, REPEAT, NEVER had a person or animal injured or killed. Their presence stops whaling, and that's a good thing. When they are present, no whales are killed, and while you think that whaling should be something to talk about in the courts, whales would be bleeding and struggling and dying in the meantime. Sea Shepherd protects them from that. They haven't rammed or sunk a ship in eons. Captain Watson said he would not ram the Japanese in this last effort. He is now on the second round till the end of the 'season' and will save the lives of hundreds of whales just by being there.
Australia is full of crap. They talk out of the side of their mouths. The labor party got into office promising to stop whaling and what have they done? Well, they have been sitting on their thumbs, and after being pushed to the wall they sent a customs ship out to film the poaching, not to stop it, but to film it. They created a law a few weeks ago making it illegal to whale in the Economic Exclusion Zone, but they aren't enforcing it. WHY? They do however arrest the poachers of toothfish, but they do nothing while the whales are barbarically poached. Hmmm, what's wrong with this picture?
SEA SHEPHERD IS NEEDED, THEY ARE A FORCE FOR GOOD ON THIS PLANET. KNOW THAT, READ THEIR WEB SITE, LEARN THE TRUTH.
GREENPEACE IS A SHAM. Never give them money. They are a money machine. They raise money to save whales with their photos, and then they don't do anything about saving whales. Read all about it on the Sea Shepherd web site.
Just in: Captain Watson's response to the Australian Federal Police email:
Captain Paul Watson’s Response
To: Superintendent Jason Byrnes,
We have absolutely no intention of conducting any violent protest against the Japanese whaling fleet.
The Federal court order was clear. The Japanese whaling fleet must be restrained from killing any whales in the Australian Antarctic Territorial waters. We are not protesting whaling, we are intervening to stop continued illegal whaling activity.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never committed an act of violence. We have always been committed to the enforcement of international conservation law.
We intend to take all necessary precautions to preserve safety at sea. We also intend to take all necessary action to prevent the unlawful killing of whales.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society calls upon the Australian Federal Police to intervene to uphold the Federal court order prohibiting unlawful whaling in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is not comfortable having to take on the responsibility of enforcement of international and Australian law but lack of enforcement by national enforcement agencies leaves us with no alternative but to do what we can, with the resources available to us to stop the illegal killing of whales.
My crew and I are not operating in any covert manner. We take full responsibility for our actions and we are prepared to defend our actions both legally and morally.
Is there a discrimination here on the enforcement of the law? Is the AFP concerned with enforcement ONLY against actions taken by Sea Shepherd crew against illegal Japanese whaling. It appears that the AFP is unconcerned with enforcement against illegal acts being committed by the Japanese whaling fleet.
I also notice that the AFP seems unconcerned with illegal actions by the Japanese whaling fleet with regard to us. Japanese whaling ships have rammed the Sea Shepherd vessel Robert Hunter. Two crewmembers of the Steve Irwin were held hostage by the crew of the Yushiin Maru No 2 and demands were made in return for their release. That is extortion.
It appears that the Japanese poachers are operating above the law and have been given encouragement to continue to act unlawfully within the territorial waters of Australia.
I can assure the AFP that my crew and I will not initiate any actions that will cause physical harm or injury to any crewmembers of the Japanese fleet. We have an unblemished record in this regard and we do not intend to do anything that will tarnish this record.
We view the "exercising of restraint" requested by the honourable Stephen Smith to include restraint on killing. The Federal Court order specifically called for the Japanese whalers to be "restrained" from further illegal acts of whaling.
On one hand we have a Minister of the government calling for restraint on our part to not intervene against Japanese illegal whaling and on the other hand we have a Federal Court order calling for the Japanese whaling fleet to be "restrained" from killing whales.
Which form of "restraint" takes precedence under the law? Does a Federal Court order take a submissive position to a statement by a Federal Minister?
Should hazard mitigation be our principle concern or should the enforcement of international and Australian law be our principle concern? Would the AFP consider the enforcement of Australian law to be secondary to "hazard mitigation"? If so then all police officers would be unarmed.
With regard to the International Maritime Organization requirements, I believe that legally speaking these requirements do not apply to vessels classified as private yachts. However the Steve Irwin does indeed take all necessary measures to preserve the safety of life at sea. In fact we take it even further than the IMO requires because we take all measures to preserve the safety of ALL LIFE at sea and that includes the protection of the lives of whales that are the illegal targets of Japanese whalers.
Should you have any further queries or issues, or wish to provide further information, do not hesitate to email or telephone. Our position is to cooperate and respond with all inquiries from the AFP with regard to this situation.
We are committed to stopping illegal Japanese whaling activities in these waters over the next three to four weeks.
Sincerely
Captain Paul Watson
Master - The Steve Irwin
Master - The Farley Mowat
Founder and President of the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.