After two weeks of talks among the 85 IWC member countries, it was agreed that the only decision that could be agreed upon by consensus was to keep talking for another year.

Meanwhile, Japan looks set to embark on another season of “scientific” whaling at the end of the year.

Japan remains whale enemy number one

Each year, whaling countries report at the IWC meeting on the number of whales they killed over the year. How did Japan fare this year?

Well, under the Japanese whaling program, 1004 whales were killed during the last year. n total, 1936 whales were reported as killed. The total includes aboriginal/subsidence whaling hunts being undertaken around the world, as well as ongoing commercial whaling by Iceland and Norway.

So, Japan is still the whales’ enemy number one. 

What’s more, Japan has aggressively expanded its “scientific” whaling over the past five years and pushed for an end to the ban on commercial whaling.

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 its “scientific” program. It was also reported that four lactating mother whales were killed — a practice that is even banned by the archaic IWC rules governing commercial whaling.

Map: Where the 85 IWC member countries stand on whaling [PDF]

What the Australian government needs to do

Australian Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, was at the IWC meeting and took a strong stand for the whales. He was pushing the Commission to become an organisation for whale conservation and not whaling. He pushed the development of conservation management plans for important regions for whales, as well as leading the development of non-lethal scientific research of cetaceans.

But, now more than ever, it is abundantly clear that Japan will not stop its whaling program unless more pressure is applied and that the IWC can not be relied upon as a body for resolving questions around the “scientific” whaling program.

Background on the IWC and why we need change (pop-up)

A poll from last year showed that most Australian people want the Australian government to do more to pressure Japan to stop all whaling, even if we risk losing valuable trade deals. Both Minister Garrett and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd now need to back up their strong rhetoric and election commitments with some backbone. This means placing the whaling issue front-and-center of our relationship with Japan.

Take action

We need to ask the Australian government to put more pressure on the Japanese government to bring an end to whaling now. The Rudd Government has been threatening to take legal action against Japan over its whaling program for years now.

At the same time, there is a legal action in Japan that could help expose the whaling industry. This is the prosecution against the Tokyo Two, our two activists who exposed corruption at the heart of Japanese scientific whaling.

Sign the petition to help the Tokyo Two expose the whaling industry