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Whaling and protest resumes

Greenpeace ship the Esperanza witnesses the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean by the Japanese whaling fleet, and the transfer of the whales to the Nisshin Maru factory ship. The whaling fleet displays a sign saying "Greenpeace misleads you!" Enlarge Image

Whalers found

Our two ships, the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise, today confronted the Fisheries Agency of Japan whaling fleet and called on it to "Leave the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary immediately." In inflatables carrying banners which read "defend the whales" and "stop the whaling," crew from the two ships declared their intention to stop the hunt.

Nissui brand whale meat tins. Enlarge Image

An open challenge to Gorton's

Last week Greenpeace, along with Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Humane Society, revealed the link between the whale hunting in the Southern Ocean and Gorton's, the well-known seafood brand in the United States. We revealed that the Japanese parent company that wholly owns Gorton’s, Nippon Suissan, also partly owns the whaling fleet – the very boats that are right now hunting whales near Antarctica.

Gorton's fish fillets Enlarge Image

Who is Gorton's?

With total annual sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Gorton’s of Gloucester is the market leader in frozen seafood products in the US. The company even invented the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish burger. Its frozen battered shrimp, fish sticks and other ready-to-eat foods are sold at grocery stores across the US. But Gorton's is closely linked with the annual "scientific" whale hunt in Japan.

SOUTHERN JAPAN The whaling ship Nisshin-maru departs from Aruka port, Shimonoseki, Southern Japan together with a fleet of four catcher ships bound for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with the intention of killing 1,000 whales. Greenpeace called upon the Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) and the companies behind the whaling to immediately recall the fleet and cancel the cull. Enlarge Image

Whale Science in-action

It’s that time of the year again, the six ships of the whaling fleet are leaving Japan and heading back to the culling ground, the “Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,” to carry out “scientific testing” on 1000 whales. The “scientific test” involves harpooning the whale, measuring and weighing the carcass, slicing and dicing, and finally delivering it to markets, boxed and frozen.

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