Whaling season in Japan
The winter months are coming, and everyone outside Japan knows that that means the Japanese whaling fleet is setting sail. Having departed on Sunday, the fleet will head to the South Pacific and has instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales, this time (and for the first time in decades), 50 humpback whales will be included in the slaughter. Of course, this is only possible because of the loophole in the 1986 international moratorium which allowed whales to be hunted for “scientific purposes”. Therefore, Japan sees this as giving them permission to go hunting minke, fin and humpback whales in the mission, set to last until mid-April 2008.
Hideki Moronuki, spokesman for Japan’s fisheries, said to the BBC, “Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering… taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever”. They also state that by catching whales, they are able to study their internal organs. Quite why they need 1,000 whales every year to study their internal organs is still not answered. Surely after catching around 20,000 whales over the past 20 years, there is only so much more studying that can be done. Australian scientists have found a way to analyse the whales using the DNA from discarded tissues of whales. These scientists say they can identify lineage, age, and other factors through these tissue samples, which affect the whales in no way whatsoever. Japan has responded in its usual way by saying that Australia is “missing the point” and that they are not understanding Japanese customs and traditions. Comments from the Institute of Ceterean Research (ICR) and news stories from their point of view can be seen here. The fact is that after “research”, the whales are then being sold to the public, a large proportion to schools which will buy the low-priced, not in demand meat for their school meals. The international moratorium states that no whaling should take place for profit, but Japan appears to be very liberal in their understanding of this agreement.
Greenpeace have sent a ship that will be following the Japanese whaling fleet. While I personally disagree with what the whaling fleet does and what happens with the killed whales, any action taken by protesters should be peaceful. On the ICR website they talk about these things, under the title of “Illegal harassment and terrorism against ICR research”. Now I really hope that the “terrorism” is just something lost in translation, rather than trying to appeal against the current worldwide hysteria in anything with the word “terror” in it. What I mean by this is the constant, “Beware citizen! A terrorist is hiding behind every corner!” we are being fed by governments and media.
The thing is, the awareness in Japan (or at least in Okinawa) about the worldwide views on Japan’s whaling activities is very low. The launch of the whaling fleet was one of the top stories on the BBC website over the weekend, yet I never saw it mentioned once on the news over the weekend. Consequently, the knowledge about it and its surrounding issues is also little-known. My students were genuinely shocked when they realised what was happening and that the majority of other countries were strongly against Japan and its actions in this matter. But foreign protest against Japanese actions would never be shown, at least not on mainstream TV channels.
Well, that’s the main story regarding Japan at the moment. For more information about the topic, you might want to have a look at the International Whaling Commission’s website, along with the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing. Would be very interested to hear your thoughts, for or against, this topic.
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Hi Dave,
Another good topic you bring under our attention.
The loophole in this moratorium should’ve been closed yesterday. It’s unreal that this still can continue each year.
Interesting to see how the Japanese media deals with the issue, or rather don’t deal with it…….
if it’s so scientifically ethical and justifiable then why does their fleet need to sneak out of port under cover of darkness with locators off so greenpeace ships don’t track them ont he way down there???
True, true.
Have also read that the Sea Shepherd is heading out there too, which sounds like there will be trouble yet again. Even Greenpeace make sure everyone knows they are nothing to do with the Sea Shepherd and their actions.