The Japanese whaling fleet is due to set sail from the ports Shimonoseki and Hiroshima, with the aim of killing over a thousand whales for so-called research purposes. WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society argues that the real reason however isn’t science, but greed.
Sue Fisher of WDCS exclaimed, “More than eleven thousand whales have been slaughtered by Japanese whalers since commercial whaling was banned in 1986. These whales, including species that are endangered, have ended up being served as sushi or burgers. Profit, not science, is the real motive.”
Japan’s so-called Antarctic research programme is due to begin in November, when in what has become an annual ritual, the fleet will sail for the southern ocean whale sanctuary. The hunt could lead to the deaths of as many as 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this year. Humpback whales were included in the original hunt proposal, but were temporarily given a reprieve last year by Japan after an overwhelming international outcry.
Japan’s Antarctic whale hunt is under particular scrutiny this year; setting sail just weeks before a closed session of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in early December at which a small group of Commissioners will discuss a potential deal with the whaling nations to bring their hunts back under international control. However, WDCS warns that Japan has shown no sign of coming to the table with an offer to reduce or end its so-called scientific whaling and has used the continued escalation of its whale hunts to bludgeon nations into acceptance of some form of commercial whaling.
Sue Fisher continued, “There is no such thing as controllable whaling. Whaling has never been properly regulated, or sustainable, or humane. And it is no longer necessary. For the vast majority of people it is anathema in the 21st century to even be thinking of trying to regulate it. Giving Japan legal commercial whaling is simply not acceptable.”
WDCS fears that several countries, including the United States, are so perturbed by Japan’s conduct that they are buying into the notion of ‘controlled whaling’ instead. However, allowing Japan to continue whaling for profit, albeit on a smaller scale than its current scientific hunts, would reward a bad actor and set up the IWC for trouble, both from the other whaling nations and countries like Korea watching keenly from the sidelines.
Fisher continued, “As a mother, one thing I know for certain: rewarding a temper tantrum is a guarantee of nothing more than miserable behaviour in the future.”