Fiddling in Rome while the economy slumps - Japan's whaling industry continues spending spree

Japan has been so severely stricken by the financial crisis that last week it was reported that the government was even cutting the cost of making silver sake cups presented to people on their 100th birthday (1).

In February, the government announced a drop in exports of 45% on the same period last year, while key industries are cutting both costs and jobs. Japan's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped 3.3% in the last quarter of 2008 - twice the decline of US GDP. Yet, the Government of Japan is stubbornly refusing to consider cancelling the Southern Ocean whaling programme, which costs the taxpayer billions of Yen.
 
Greenpeace whales campaigner Reece Turner said, "The Japanese government's whaling programme is a scientific sham and an economic disaster.

"The future of the International Whaling Commission will be debated this week in Rome; the only viable future is one that protects whale populations, promotes non-lethal research and invests in real conservation of marine life. Japan needs to realise that another year of needlessly killing whales, endangering the pristine Antarctic environment and squandering its taxpayers' money is no basis for negotiation."

In addition to the 1.2 billion Yen annual taxpayer subsidy for the whaling programme, billions more are spent as part of the government's foreign aid budget to recruit countries to the International Whaling Commission. The Institute for Cetacean Research, which devises the so-called research programme, has outstanding loans to the government of 3.2 billion Yen (2).
 
The Australian government has said that it will re-state its opposition to whaling at the Intersessional in Rome this week. Greenpeace is asking the Australian government to remain firm in its demand for an immediate end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.

 “The IWC must be an organisation for the whales and not the whalers. The only acceptable compromise from this week’s meeting can be an end to Southern Ocean whaling, while ensuring that there is no transfer of whale kill to the North Pacific and no resumption of commercial whaling,” Mr Turner concluded.

Notes to the Editor

(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7922761.stm
(2) Asahi Shimbun, February 2, 2008: Research whaling faces another challenge of financing, unable to pay back national funds of 1 billion Yen