Apr 18, 2014
Asia
Japan Looks to Start New Antarctic Whaling Program
- Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd’s ship the Bob Barker, right, and the Japanese whaling ship No. 3 Yushin Maru collide in the waters of Antarctica.
- Associated Press
Despite a ruling by a United Nations court that Japan’s research whaling program in the Antarctic Ocean isn’t in compliance with international agreements, Tokyo says it plans to start a new research program there.
The country’s fisheries agency said Friday that it has submitted a plan to the International Whaling Commission expressing its intention to resume what it calls scientific whaling in the Antarctic in fiscal year starting in March 2015. Tokyo has agreed not to catch any whales in the Antarctic in fiscal 2014.
The agency also said it plans to continue its whaling hunt in the Pacific Ocean next year, but targeting a smaller number of whales than in previous years.
Late last month the Hague-based International Court of Justice ruled that Japan catches too many whales under its scientific whaling program, which has been opposed by Australia and New Zealand as a backdoor way to conduct commercial whaling. The IWC has allowed Japan to carry out a research program ever since commercial whaling was banned in 1982.
The Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research, founded at roughly the same time the country was forced to cease commercial whaling operations, has been granted an annual catch quota by the Japanese government and sells the whale meat generated by its sampling techniques. The institute argues that catching and killing a large number of whales is necessary to improve the accuracy of its research.
The decades-long dispute has drawn attention globally, especially as clashes between Japanese whalers and the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society become more confrontational, with ships colliding at sea and putting crew members’ safety at risk.
Following the March ruling, Sea Shepherd said in a statement it would “have the ships prepared to return to the Southern Ocean in December 2014 should Japan choose to ignore this ruling.”
The Fisheries Ministry said that under its new research program it is considering countermeasures to ensure the safety of seafarers and researchers from anti-whaling groups.
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Hasn’t the IWC ask the Japanese to the table countless times for dignified discussion on ending whaling? The behavior you refer to is the worlds frustration with Japan’s stubborn and misplaced reasons for resistance to the idea of ending it.
You are a vegetarian? So am I.
Personally, I don’t approve of whaling, or even fishing. More egregious than whaling, however, are the attitudes of West against Japan.
Western governments and groups have shown nothing but racism and utmost disrespect for Japanese. While some are genuine environmentalists rallying against whaling, the vast majority appear to be nothing more than racists just riding on the bandwagon to bash Japan. Japanese are aware of this and the right has not let up an opportunity to exploit this.
If the West was sincere about asking Japan to quit, it knows that the best way would be to engage amicably with the government and the fishing communities in Japan. Instead, it chooses to insult her in international fora, take her to court and attack her vessels on the high seas, something which in Asia amounts to a declaration of war.
In all honesty, as a Japanese, I would be very disappointed if Japan were to give in to Sea Shepard or the hypocritical Australians. If Japan gives up whaling, it must be on its own terms. It must be embraced by the Japanese people.
Most of the Western commentators also criticise whaling, as they are eating steaks and ribs, so no, you haven’t quite beat me to it.
I’m a vegetarian and have been for 20 years. Of course I understand that animals are a sad truth in medical reasearch but those days are numbred, also. Beat you to it.
Fantastic anecdotal evidence about how whales and dolphins are sentient! What great hypocrisy!
Pigs, favourite food in many countries, are proven to have an intelligence equivalent to that of 2 year old human children. It is nonetheless food in all Western countries.
If you were a full vegetarian, who criticise all meat-eaters equally, I would be convinced.
Beyond that, criticising Koreans because they eat dogs or Japanese because they eat whales is mere manifestation of cultural bigotry. I am very sure Westerners would not be as ready to attack the Japanese, had they a similar diet.
Jamawns is essentially a Japanese right-wing commentator, willing to defend any extremist view that the right would hold without reservation.
As a more moderate Japanese, I would tell you that this time, he is not that wrong either.
What he is saying is that a certain number of whales should be culled each year to maintain their numbers. An excessive whale population is a veritable threat to the marine ecosystem and Japan, being one of the largest fish consumer nations in the world, is rightly worried about depleted fish stocks.