What we're doing

We are working on many fronts, through political work, public outreach and finding solutions to whaling.

Greenpeace's campaign to stop Japan from whaling in the Southern Ocean involves three steps.

(1) A dynamic strategy in Japan, led by our Japanese office, which supports and further develops grassroots opposition to whaling in the Southern Ocean.

(2) An internationally coordinated campaign that seeks to continue worldwide pressure and condemnation of Japan's lethal whaling program.

(3) Continued diplomatic efforts to encourage member nations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to support an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Our office in Japan

Greenpeace has been at the forefront of leading international condemnation of the whaling program. In recent years, we have been working within Japan, where the decision to end whaling will ultimately be made.

Our campaign efforts have paid off, with a measurable change in public attitudes and revelations that have rocked the whaling industry. In a recent poll, 71% of Japanese said they did not support whaling on the high seas.

Since May 2008, when Greenpeace exposed large-scale whale embezzlement within the industry and authorities reacted by arresting two of our campaigners, the issue of whaling has seen unprecedented levels of critical scrutiny from the media and public. Although it is clear that the politically motivated trial against our activists is designed to silence our effective campaign work, Greenpeace is willing to turn the case around and is urging the Japanese Government to put whaling on trial.

Cracks are beginning to appear in Japan's whaling industry, with crew members resigning, a top whale meat restaurant closing and the delisting of the fleet's refuelling vessel. Read more

Greenpeace at the IWC

Greenpeace continues to work inside the IWC, where we act as observers. At the IWC we use our observer status inside the meeting to react quickly to events and to lobby delegates.

But our work does not end when the IWC is not meeting. We work throughout the year to lobby pro-conservation governments to take a stronger stand at the IWC and resist pro-whaling countries efforts to end the moratorium against commercial whaling. We attempt to build relationships with countries that support the pro-whaling positions of Iceland, Japan and Norway in order to get them to change their vote to support whale conservation. We also actively work towards or support recruitment efforts by pro-conservation governments to enlist new nations to join the IWC on the side of the whales.

International legal action

Greenpeace (and other peak environment and animal rights groups) are urging the Australian Government to continue diplomatic efforts at the IWC. We are also asking the government to support the use of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to close the ‘scientific’ whaling loophole. This would involve taking legal action against Japan for whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

An independent panel of international legal experts commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare has found that the ‘scientific’ whaling conducted by some members of the IWC (Japan, Norway and Iceland) violates the moratorium on commercial whaling, and that such whaling is “unlawful”.

Confronting the whalers

Greenpeace has travelled to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary nine times in the past 20 years to disrupt, delay and document the whale hunt.

Confronting whalers can be an important tool in campaigns to end whaling but it cannot stand alone as the only way to win public support and change policy at the heart of whaling – Japan.

This is not to say that we will not return to the Southern Ocean in future years if it becomes clear that this would be the best strategic decision.