The Japanese government has confirmed a rumor, that they have abandoned plans to kill humpback whales in the Southern Ocean this season. While this is good news, Greenpeace will continue its expedition to the Southern Ocean Whales Sanctuary to stop the remaining 985 whales being killed, including 50 endangered fin whales.
The news that humpback whales will be spared this season from
Japanese harpooners is a victory for Greenpeace supporters all over
the world who have joined with us in demanding action from their
governments, participated in promoting non-lethal alternatives to
whale research through our Great Whale Trail, and questioned the
Japanese government directly about plans to expand the whale hunt
through the building of a new whaling ship.
(Oh, and all of you who told your friends to vote for Mister
Splashy Pants in our whale-naming competition, you did your part
too.)
But even better news would be that no fin whales or minke whales
are to be slaughtered either. That not a single harpoon will breach
the Whale Sanctuary at all is the news that the world is waiting
for.
But whaling has not ended. Japan still plans to kill fin and
minke whales this year. Saving one species is not enough. We all
need to do more NOW to stop the hunt forever.
Scandal
The entire so-called scientific whaling program is a two decades
old scandal, and by backing down today on the humpback hunt, Japan
has acknowledged that it fears further scrutiny of a hoax that has
nothing to do with science.
Japan's whaling program is in deep trouble. Japan has backed
down in the face of public outrage over killing the favorite whale
of whale-watchers. Japan has also realized that the humpback
whalemeat that would result from the hunt was going to be legally
challenged under the Convention on the International Trade in
Endangered Species.
Secret plans to build new ship threatened
The Japanese Fisheries Agency was clearly alarmed at the
mounting attention being paid to a "research program" which yields
no useful science, and which adds to a stockpile of unsold
whalemeat which hardly anyone buys. They are worried about the
attention the humpbacks have drawn to their plans to kill 935
minkes and 50 endangered fins. But most of all, they are worried
about attention being drawn to the plans of a few bureaucrats
within Japan who are planning a massive expansion of the whale
hunt, by constructing a new whaling factory ship at a cost of some
$125 million to $188 million, at the expense of Japanese
taxpayers.
Now is the time to press for an end forever
The future of whaling could well depend upon whether a new factory ship
gets built or not. We believe the Japanese taxpayer has
a right to ask whether billions of Yen should be invested in this
industry -- espectially given that it generates no useful science,
adds to a mountain of unsold whalemeat, poses a diplomatic
liability to Japan, and in the end profits only a very few
bureaucrats.
For nations that support whale conservation, now is the time to
press Japan to abandon the whale hunt entirely, and to stop the
build of a new Nisshin Maru.
Follow our expedition to the Southern Ocean
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/oceans/whale-defenders