NZ And Other Nations Protests Against Japanese Whale Kill
posted
23rd August 2000
Nine
nations' ambassadors to Japan have signed a strong letter of protest
against a Japanese whale hunt that is taking sperm and Bryde's whales
as well as minke whales in the Pacific Ocean, supposedly for research
purposes. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) today
learned, from what the group calls "well placed U.S. government
sources," that the letter is to be delivered today to Japanese Minister
Minister Yohei Kono at a 4:15 pm scheduled meeting.
The ambassadors of the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, New
Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, and Germany are confirmed to be
participating in the protest. Mexico and Brazil are also likely
to join, sources said. Since July 29, Japan's Fisheries Agency has
confirmed that six minke whales, four Bryde's whales and one sperm
whale have been killed by the Japanese whaling fleet. On August
16, the United States State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said
that the U.S. along with other nations, has "expressed at the highest
levels its objection to the expansion of Japan's lethal research
program. The United States strongly opposes Japan's action in taking
the whales and reiterates its support of the international community's
call on Japan to cease its lethal research program," Reeker said.
The International Whaling Commission, following review by its Scientific
Committee, adopted a resolution in July urging Japan to refrain
from undertaking this program. Masayuki Komatsu, counsellor for
fisheries policy of the Fisheries Agency, Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries defends the new research program which he
says, "will focus on feeding studies of whales and ecosystem modeling.
"It is becoming clear that whales are eating three to five times
of marine living resources than fisheries catch by humans," Komatsu
says.
The
priority for the research will be feeding studies related to prey
consumption by cetaceans, prey preferences of cetaceans and ecosystem
modeling, explains Komatsu. The program involves both lethal and
non-lethal research techniques such as sighting surveys and biopsy
sampling. Other research objectives include the study of stock structure
of minke, Bryde's and sperm whales as well as the study of environmental
effects such as chemical pollution on cetaceans and the marine ecosystem.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark calls the new Japanese whale
hunt "deplorable" and criticises Japan for "again ignoring world
opinion and embarking on a new programme of so-called scientific
whaling in the Pacific in the North Pacific." The International
Fund for Animal Welfare and its 2.5 million supporters around the
world strongly oppose Japanese whaling, and support possible U.S.
trade sanctions against Japan. "We applaud this action and congratulate
the governments involved for their willingness to take such a strong
stand against Japan's renegade actions," said IFAW president Fred
O'Regan of the anticipated delivery of the multi-national protest
message.
But
Komatsu maintains that Japan's whale research program is "perfectly
legal under Article VIII of the International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling" and that the program had been subject to
extensive review by the IWC's Scientific Committee. At the IWC meeting
in Australia in July, two proposed permits by Japan were considered.
One is an extension of its continuing program in the Southern Hemisphere
(now 400 ± 10 percent minke whales from the Antarctic). The second
is the feasibility study for the years 2000 and 2001. A maximum
of 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 10 sperm whales are to
be killed in each of these two years. The Commission adopted resolutions
calling on the government of Japan to refrain from issuing these
permits and reiterated that in reviewing scientific permits, the
Scientific Committee should examine whether the research is required
for management or could be carried out using non-lethal means.
Still,
Komatsu said, "Threats of sanctions against a perfectly legal and
scientifically sound program are a provocative and inappropriate
attempt to impose their values on others by force. It is comparable
to a situation where India demands the USA to stop eating beef by
suggesting economic sanctions." But Helen Clark said, "The bottom
line is that there is no convincing scientific reason for the Japanese
to kill any whales at all. "It is well known that meat from the
whales killed during these 'scientific' expeditions finishes up
at Japanese dinner tables. That's what apalls the people of New
Zealand and like-minded nations, who have rallied to conserve these
great mammals," said Clark. But Komatsu points out that the Convention
of the International Whaling Commission requires that the by-products
of scientific research be processed. "The fact that whale meat ends
up on the market is a requirement of the Convention to ensure that
resources are not wasted. It is not a "loophole" or "illegal" or
"commercial whaling in disguise" as the anti-whaling rhetoric suggests."
Within Japan, the Dolphin and Whale Action Network, which includes
63 citizens' groups and 10 high profile individuals, has signed
a petition asking the Japanese government to "stop the scientific
whaling of sperm whales and Bryde's whales in the Northwest Pacific"
and "abandon lethal methods of research and pursue instead non-lethal
research. "Stop killing whales under the name of science." the Dolphin
and Whale Action Network petition asks.
The
Network says that contrary to Japanese government statements, the
consumption of whale meat is not an indispensable part of the Japanese
diet. The citizens' groups are concerned about contamination of
whale meat eaten by those few Japanese who still consume this food.
They are asking the Japanese government to immediately alert consumers
regarding the health risk of consuming whale meat contaminated with
chemical substances. .
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