You Are Here:
Greenpeace activists take to the streets of Sydney to express their opposition to the whaling in the Southern Oceans. They deliver a letter to the visiting Japanese Ministers at Government House.
Enlarge image
The financial backers of the Japanese whaling industry are pulling out
of the business after months of pressure from Greenpeace, online
activists, consumers and other environmental groups.
The move highlights that whaling is bad for business, and weakens the Japanese government's justification for their so-called ‘scientific’ whaling program.
A drowning business
Two of the world’s largest seafood suppliers - Gortons, Sealord and its parent company Nissui – withdrew all support for Japanese whaling after our campaign put Nissui in the spotlight.
Nissui is a one third shareholder in Kyodo Senpaku, which owns and operates the whaling fleet. This implicated Gortons (wholly owned by Nissui in the US) and Sealord (50 per cent owned by Nissui in New Zealand) by linking them to the whaling industry.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaign manager Danny Kennedy said that the companies’ actions demolished the commercial foundation of the Japanese whaling industry. "It also removes any justification for continuing the so-called 'scientific' whaling program, which aims to prove that industrial whaling can be sustainable."
International pressure
In late January 2006, Greenpeace announced that it was taking the fight against whaling from the high seas to supermarket shelves.
In Australia more than 40,000 people signed our web petition that urged Sealord to pressure its parent company Nissui to get out of whaling.
Sealord felt similar pressure from around 14,000 emails in New Zealand. In the US Nissui felt pressure through its subsidiary Gorton's from Greenpeace, the Humane Society and the Environmental Investigation Agency.
In Argentina a Greenpeace-led campaign saw Nissui lose seafood supply contracts, after activists placed stickers denouncing whaling on Nissui products in supermarkets and more than 20,000 emails were sent to Nissui headquarters.
Globally, people sent 100,000 emails to Nissui related companies through our international website.
It seems that even in Japan the message that whaling is bad for business is getting through. 'Research by Japanese newspapers shows that less than 4 per cent of Japanese people eat whale meat, and the government has to resort to force feeding whale meat to school children to reduce its huge whale meat stockpile," said Kennedy.
"Japan now faces increasing pressure to stop its annual whale slaughter, given that the 'data' they collect is commercially irrelevant and another 800 or so whale carcasses are about to be added to Japan's 5000 ton mountain of frozen whale meat.”
The next challenge
However, the fight is far from over and the next challenge will take place this June when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets to vote whether the commercial whaling ban remains in place.
For years, the Japanese government has spent billions of yen buying votes on the commission in an attempt to overturn the ban. This year the Japanese delegation believes it will be able to secure a majority of votes, which will end the international ban on commercial whaling.
The future of the ban depends on powerful anti-whaling governments like Australia, the UK, the US, and Germany to prevent Japan buying votes at the next IWC meeting.
Become an ocean defender to help save the whales.
The move highlights that whaling is bad for business, and weakens the Japanese government's justification for their so-called ‘scientific’ whaling program.
A drowning business
Two of the world’s largest seafood suppliers - Gortons, Sealord and its parent company Nissui – withdrew all support for Japanese whaling after our campaign put Nissui in the spotlight.
Nissui is a one third shareholder in Kyodo Senpaku, which owns and operates the whaling fleet. This implicated Gortons (wholly owned by Nissui in the US) and Sealord (50 per cent owned by Nissui in New Zealand) by linking them to the whaling industry.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaign manager Danny Kennedy said that the companies’ actions demolished the commercial foundation of the Japanese whaling industry. "It also removes any justification for continuing the so-called 'scientific' whaling program, which aims to prove that industrial whaling can be sustainable."
International pressure
In late January 2006, Greenpeace announced that it was taking the fight against whaling from the high seas to supermarket shelves.
In Australia more than 40,000 people signed our web petition that urged Sealord to pressure its parent company Nissui to get out of whaling.
Sealord felt similar pressure from around 14,000 emails in New Zealand. In the US Nissui felt pressure through its subsidiary Gorton's from Greenpeace, the Humane Society and the Environmental Investigation Agency.
In Argentina a Greenpeace-led campaign saw Nissui lose seafood supply contracts, after activists placed stickers denouncing whaling on Nissui products in supermarkets and more than 20,000 emails were sent to Nissui headquarters.
Globally, people sent 100,000 emails to Nissui related companies through our international website.
It seems that even in Japan the message that whaling is bad for business is getting through. 'Research by Japanese newspapers shows that less than 4 per cent of Japanese people eat whale meat, and the government has to resort to force feeding whale meat to school children to reduce its huge whale meat stockpile," said Kennedy.
"Japan now faces increasing pressure to stop its annual whale slaughter, given that the 'data' they collect is commercially irrelevant and another 800 or so whale carcasses are about to be added to Japan's 5000 ton mountain of frozen whale meat.”
The next challenge
However, the fight is far from over and the next challenge will take place this June when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets to vote whether the commercial whaling ban remains in place.
For years, the Japanese government has spent billions of yen buying votes on the commission in an attempt to overturn the ban. This year the Japanese delegation believes it will be able to secure a majority of votes, which will end the international ban on commercial whaling.
The future of the ban depends on powerful anti-whaling governments like Australia, the UK, the US, and Germany to prevent Japan buying votes at the next IWC meeting.
Become an ocean defender to help save the whales.
