The environmental organisation is now asking for a full public
enquiry to ascertain the level of corruption within the whaling
programme. In addition, Greenpeace is calling for an end to
taxpayer subsidies for the programme, and for the license of the
company operating the whale hunt to be withdrawn.
A four-month Greenpeace undercover investigation has revealed
disturbing evidence of an embezzlement ring involving crewmembers
on board the Nisshin Maru, who are openly taking the best cuts of
whale meat during the so-called scientific hunt, smuggling it
ashore disguised as personal luggage and then passing it to the
traders for the illegal sales.
Informers claim that senior crew and officials from Kyodo
Senpaku - the company operating the fleet - are turning a blind eye
to the theft, allowing it to continue for decades. One informer
associated with Kyodo Senpaku told Greenpeace that officials from
the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) who were on board the
Nisshin Maru also knew of the scandal and did nothing.
"The information we have gathered indicates that the scale of
the scandal is so great, it would be impossible for the ship's
operating company, Kyodo Senpaku and the ICR, not to know," said
Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan whales campaign coordinator. "They
are turning their back on large scale corruption and theft of
taxpayers' money. What we need to know now, through a full public
enquiry, is who else is profiting from the whaling programme? Who
else has allowed this fraud to continue?" Sato added.
Working from information given by former and current Kyodo
Senpaku employees, Greenpeace documented the offloading of smuggled
whale meat into a special truck, in full view of Kyodo Senpaku
officials and crew members when the Nisshin Maru docked on April
15th, this year. The consignment was documented by Greenpeace
activists once it left the ship and tracked to a depot in Tokyo.
One of four boxes destined for the same private address was then
intercepted in order to verify the contents and establish the
fraud.
The consignment notes claimed the box contained "cardboard" but
in reality held 23.5kg of salted 'prime' whale meat, worth up to
US$3,000. One informer told Greenpeace that dozens of crew take as
many as 20 boxes each. Further inquiries in pubs and restaurants in
a number of different locations around Japan confirmed that they
were expecting the imminent delivery of whale meat from this year's
hunt, despite the fact that the Japanese Fisheries Agency and the
Institute of Cetacean Research do not release the whale meat for
sale before the end of June, 2008.
The ongoing Japanese government-backed scientific whaling
programme, in the internationally recognised Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary, has been continually mired in controversy, lies and
scandal, bringing Japan into international disrepute. This latest
scandal begs the question of just who profits from a whaling
programme which generates no useful science and is commercially
unsustainable.
"The whaling programme in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is
funded by the Japanese taxpayers and they have a right to know who
is profiting from their money," commented Sato. "The Japanese
whaling programme has already been shamed internationally for its
lack of scientific credibility, embarrassed by the generation of
vast stockpile of whale meat few want to eat and is now embroiled
in a scandal at home for being corrupt. It is time for the whaling
programme to be stopped and public money spent on something more
honourable." Sato concluded.
Additional allegations from informers include:
- Throwing tonnes of whale meat overboard daily because they did
not have processing capacity for the increased quotas
- Cancerous tumours being found and cut out of whales and the
remaining meat processed for public sale
- Targeted hunts to ensure maximum catch, not random "sampling"
as required by the research permits
- Very bad working conditions because of the increased workload
from the increased quotas
Notes:
The "Stolen Japanese Whale Meat Scandal" dossier is available to
download in English and Japanese at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/whale-meat-scandal
The peaceful actions of the crew of the Greenpeace ship,
Esperanza, in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary earlier this year
stopped the entire whaling operation for more than two weeks. The
factory ship, Nisshin Maru returned to port last month with half
the planned quota of minke whales and no endangered fin whales. The
whalers were forced to admit that previous claims that fin whale
numbers were increasing was not proved by the expedition -in which
so few fin whales were seen they were unable to catch any.
For further information:
Kyoko Murakami: Greenpeace Japan Media, in Tokyo: + 81 80 5088
3048
Junichi Sato: Greenpeace Japan Whales Campaign Coordinator, in
Tokyo: + 81 80 5088 2990
Dave Walsh, Greenpeace International Media, in Tokyo: +81 80
5416 6508
Sara Holden, Greenpeace International Whale Campaign
Coordinator, in Tokyo: + 81 80 5088 2893
Video available from Maarten van Rouveroy, Video Producer,
Amsterdam + 31 615 007 406
Pictures available from John Novis, Picture Desk, London + 44
(0) 7801 615 889