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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