Posted 02nd July 2001

US Populace Prefer Live Whales

A wide majority of American voters is opposed to commercial whaling by Japan and Norway, according to a new poll released today. Of 1,000 voters surveyed by phone, 83 percent were opposed and 60 percent were strongly opposed to the killing of whales by the world's most active whaling nations.

The poll was released to coincide with the upcoming annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in July and also in advance of the first meeting between President George W. Bush and newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on June 30 in Washington, DC. New Zealand has a long-standing strong policy of pushing for a South Pacific moratorium on all whale hunting, but New Zealand and allies of the moratorium have been let-down all along the way so far by notoriously underhand tactics by Japanese and Norwegian commercial interests and politicians, using their monetary wealth to literally buy out small countries like those in the Carribean. In The USA through publicity surrounding the poll and a set of full page ads appearing tomorrow in national newspapers, the animal welfare group aims to urge President Bush to get the Japanese leader to reconsider the controversial whale hunt.

Despite a worldwide ban on commercial whaling, Japan kills hundreds of minke whales each year under the guise of what it calls "scientific whaling." Japan has recently expanded its hunt to include endangered Bryde's and sperm whales which are protected by international conventions. Norway ignores the moratorium imposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986. Both countries are currently hunting whales, Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean and Norway in the northern Atlantic. It seems clear that most Americans favor protection of whales. "We are sponsoring a resolution to express the sense of Congress that commercial and lethal scientific whaling must come to an end," Republican Congressman Miller said. "Their environment is becoming more marginal with the pollution of oceans, their food supply is decreasing. We think the numbers you have just heard come as a surprise to people, to find 1,000 whales a year are being killed after an international decision to ban commercial whaling by the IWC." mericans surveyed want the federal government to take action against the whalers.

The poll shows that 69 percent of those questioned support trade sanctions by the United States against Japanese seafood products to force Japan to stop whaling. A majority would be willing to boycott products from Japan and Norway - 66 percent of men, and 78 percent of the women polled support a boycott. For its part, the Japanese government has introduced new regulations aimed at strengthening laws against the possession, sale and processing of illegally caught whales. As of July 1, the taking of largewhales will be prohibited regardless of the fishing gear and hunting methods employed with the exception of those caught by the whaling fleet under permit, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. Based on DNA analysis techniques that allow the identification of individual animals, Japan has been developing a registry system that can be used to monitor the distribution and marketing of whale meat products. With this system, Japanese authorities intend to ensure that all whale meat sold in its markets is from legal sources.

The thing is of course, `legal whale meat' is an oxymoron, a concept conveniently unintelligible to Japanese commercial and political interests. It is moves such as these that has Karen Steuer of the International Fund for Animal Welfare warning that the world is "poised to reintroduce commercial whaling." Japan and Iceland are pushing for an international trade in whale meat in spite of ban, she says. Japan has convinced more pro-whaling countries to join the IWC, Steuer says, and she is hearing "far more heated rhetoric, including open calls for the culling of whales, keeping the populations down because of a very mistaken claim that whales are eating commercial fish." Steuer believes the United States plays a crucial role in keeping the commercial moratorium on whaling in place.

The Clinton administration strongly supported the whale hunting ban. The Bush administration, through a State Department public statement, criticized Japan for expanding its program to kill scores of internationally protected whales in the name of research. "It is important to get very strong leadership from the U.S and other countries such as South America and Europe," Steuer said today. The showdown will be played out at the upcoming International Whaling Commission meeting in London, England July 23 to 27. ..