Posted on 6/11/2001

Japanese Whalers At It Again


Giant eyeballs are protesting today at the Japanese consulate in Auckland
imploring the Japanese Prime Minister not to send his whaling fleet to
Antarctica to kill minke whales. Greenpeace oceans campaigner Sarah
Duthie is meeting with the Japanese senior consul, Mr Koichi Yotsaya to
deliver a letter for Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi.


In a global day of action Greenpeace protestors converged on Japanese
embassies and consulates in 17 countries* to deliver the message "Don't
Go Whaling! The World is Watching". Some protestors wore bizarre
"eyeballs" over their heads and thousands of people around the world
faxed or emailed similar messages to Mr Koizumi. In Japan, on 2nd
November, Greenpeace delivered petitions to the offices of the Prime
Minister and to those of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Takana and
the Minister of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries, Mr Takebe, demanding
that the whaling fleet mot be allowed to leave Shimonoseki. The Japanese
whaling fleet - a factory ship, three catchers and a spotting boat - is
due to depart Tuesday or Wednesday from Shimonoseki, Southern Japan and
will travel to Antarctica to kill 440 minke whales. The International
Whaling Commission (IWC) has asked the Japanese government to "halt the
lethal takes of whales." The IWC has designated Antarctica a whale
sanctuary. Minke whales appear to be in decline. IWC scientists are
unable to agree on how many whales are left. Scientists say the minke
population may have suffered a precipitous decline over the past decade.


Today's protests highlight the threat of Japan ending the moratorium on
commercial whaling. Japan has admitted using overseas aid to buy
support from developing countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere.** Of
the 14 IWC member countries opposing the IWC's plea to Japan, nine were
developing countries implicated in the vote buying scandal. A Caribbean
Prime Minister has admitted his country sells its vote to Japan.***


Greenpeace says the Japanese government is intensifying its efforts to
build a majority before the next IWC meeting in Shimonoseki in May 2002.
"Japan wants a return to high seas whaling with factory ships, and it's
willing to use bribery to get it," says Greenpeace oceans campaigner
Sarah Duthie. "If the global community doesn't stop Japan rigging the
deck at the IWC we'll see a return to the sort of whaling that
devastated whale populations all over the globe."


*New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Austria, Chile, Denmark, Finland,
Germany, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The
Netherlands, UK and USA.

**In an interview broadcast on Australian ABC TV in July 2001, a senior
Japanese official, Mr Komatsu, described minke whales as "cockroaches of
the sea", and admitted that Japan saw development aid as a "major tool"
in ensuring that key developing countries voted in favour of whaling at
the IWC.

***Antigua and Barbuda whaling support partly linked to Japanese aid.
Caribbean New Agency CANA, 16 July 2001