Greenpeace hampers Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary off Antartica.
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We are working on many fronts, through political work, public outreach, finding solutions to whaling and taking non-violent direct action against the whalers at sea.
Greenpeace's campaign to stop Japan from whaling in the Southern Ocean includes three steps.
1) Direct Action – bearing witness to and obstructing the whale hunt using non-violent direct action.
2) A dynamic strategy in Japan, led by our Japanese office, which supports and further develops grassroots opposition to whaling in the Southern Ocean.
3) To continue our diplomatic efforts to encourage member nations of the IWC to support an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Our activists defend whales by positioning themselves between the whales and the harpoon. We also buy time to help whales escape by placing our inflatable boats alongside the whalers’ ships to protest the slaughter and inhibit the transfer of whales from the catcher to the mother ship.
We will broadcast images of the bloody slaughter and prolonged suffering of harpooned whales to the outside world, in order to mobilise global opinion and like minded pro-conservation governments, as well as Japanese public opinion to take action to stop this unnecessary practice.
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.
So far this year, Greenpeace efforts have resulted in Croatia, Slovenia and Cyprus joining the IWC and convincing Nicaragua’s new government to announce that they will no longer support the Japanese position on the IWC. We also convinced Costa Rica and Peru to pay off past debts to the IWC and regain their voting rights to support the whales.
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”.
Greenpeace's campaign to stop Japan from whaling in the Southern Ocean includes three steps.
1) Direct Action – bearing witness to and obstructing the whale hunt using non-violent direct action.
2) A dynamic strategy in Japan, led by our Japanese office, which supports and further develops grassroots opposition to whaling in the Southern Ocean.
3) To continue our diplomatic efforts to encourage member nations of the IWC to support an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Confronting the whalers
Greenpeace will return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary later this year to disrupt, delay and document the hunt.Our activists defend whales by positioning themselves between the whales and the harpoon. We also buy time to help whales escape by placing our inflatable boats alongside the whalers’ ships to protest the slaughter and inhibit the transfer of whales from the catcher to the mother ship.
We will broadcast images of the bloody slaughter and prolonged suffering of harpooned whales to the outside world, in order to mobilise global opinion and like minded pro-conservation governments, as well as Japanese public opinion to take action to stop this unnecessary practice.
Our office in Japan
Staff in our Japanese office are putting the whaling issue on the domestic agenda in order topressure the Fisheries Agency of Japan and the Institute of Cetacean Research to stop whaling.The office has launched a new program designed to engage the Japanese public, the majority of whom aren’t interested in eating whale meat. In a recent poll, 69 per cent of Japanese said they do not support whaling on the high seas. The centrepiece of this strategy is the Whales Love Wagon. It is based on a popular Japanese reality TV series called Love Wagon, and is an internet TV series that addresses the whaling issues from all viewpoints.Greenpeace at the IWC
Greenpeace continues to work inside the IWC, where we act as observers, in order to support our outside work. 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.
So far this year, Greenpeace efforts have resulted in Croatia, Slovenia and Cyprus joining the IWC and convincing Nicaragua’s new government to announce that they will no longer support the Japanese position on the IWC. We also convinced Costa Rica and Peru to pay off past debts to the IWC and regain their voting rights to support 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”.
