Press release - 23 June, 2010
In response to discussions taking place today at International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco that signal that there will be no deal, Greenpeace Japan Programme Director Junichi Sato issued the following statement:
“After another year of talking at the IWC, and all that we will get is another year older while the blood of thousands more whales is spilled as Japan, Norway and Iceland pursue their commercial whale hunts with impunity."
"Governments at the IWC should be ashamed. They retreated behind closed doors to hide the brinkmanship and bickering that has left the whales without progress and ensured another year of shameful status quo. However, they cannot hide the shame of commercial whaling and of their inactivity."
"The time has come for pro whale conservation Governments to move beyond rhetoric and brinkmanship. It is time for real political action and consequences to be brought - to end Japan's bogus scientific whale hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and the commercial hunts of Norway and Iceland. Talk without action is just that - talk."
“For over thirty years, Greenpeace has been fighting to end all commercial whaling and our commitment to bringing about its end in all of our oceans remains.”
For more information, please contact: Steve Smith, Greenpeace International communications, +31 643 787 359 or 