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The IWC paper ‘Catches by IWC member nations in the 2008 and 2008/2009 seasons’ shows that Japan killed 1004 whales out of a total of 1936 whales
during the period by exploiting a loophole in the IWC rules which allows lethal ‘scientific’ whaling.
“Japan’s fraudulent ‘scientific’ whaling program continues to be on a scale unmatched by other whaling countries like Norway or Iceland which refused to sign the moratorium on commercial whaling”, said Reece Turner, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Whales Campaigner in Madeira.
The new Iceland Government has promised to review whaling in Iceland whilst in Norway, after the lowest recorded catch in years, the whaling season has
been suspended citing lack of demand.
“Japan’s aggressive expansion of its scientific whaling in the past 5 years coupled with it’s push to tear up the ban on commercial whaling means it is the unequivocal number one enemy for the world’s whales”, said Turner
Figures provided by Japan also show that almost a third of the whales Japan harpooned in the Antarctic last summer were pregnant, making a mockery of it’s ‘scientific’ program. It has also been reported that 4 lactating mother whales were killed, a practice banned even under archaic IWC rules governing commercial whaling.
“There is now almost no hope of a positive outcome for the whales at this year’s IWC, and the blame for this failure needs to be firmly placed with Japan” concluded Mr. Turner
during the period by exploiting a loophole in the IWC rules which allows lethal ‘scientific’ whaling.
“Japan’s fraudulent ‘scientific’ whaling program continues to be on a scale unmatched by other whaling countries like Norway or Iceland which refused to sign the moratorium on commercial whaling”, said Reece Turner, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Whales Campaigner in Madeira.
The new Iceland Government has promised to review whaling in Iceland whilst in Norway, after the lowest recorded catch in years, the whaling season has
been suspended citing lack of demand.
“Japan’s aggressive expansion of its scientific whaling in the past 5 years coupled with it’s push to tear up the ban on commercial whaling means it is the unequivocal number one enemy for the world’s whales”, said Turner
Figures provided by Japan also show that almost a third of the whales Japan harpooned in the Antarctic last summer were pregnant, making a mockery of it’s ‘scientific’ program. It has also been reported that 4 lactating mother whales were killed, a practice banned even under archaic IWC rules governing commercial whaling.
“There is now almost no hope of a positive outcome for the whales at this year’s IWC, and the blame for this failure needs to be firmly placed with Japan” concluded Mr. Turner
For further information or comment
Ruchira Talukdar, Greenpeace Media Advisor- ruchira.Talukdar@greenpeace.org; 0407 414 572
