NATIVE VEGETATION CLEARANCE HABITAT LOSS AND BIO-DIVERSITY DECLINE
This is a handout photograph showing two whales as they are hauled aboard the factory ship, Nisshin Maru, taken in Antarctica on Feb. 7, 2008. Source: Australian Customs Service via Bloomberg News
Whale Harpooned
(Greenpeace file photo)
Australia condemns bloody killing of whales and calfs by Japan
Japan flouting whaling ban under guise of research: Brussels
08 February 2008, 21:32 CET
(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission expressed concern Friday at Japan's whaling activities, saying Tokyo was flouting the international ban on whaling "under the guise of scientific research".
"Whales are protected by the International Whaling Commission and European Union law," said EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg. "Scientific research must not be used as a cover for continued whaling."
European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, in a joint statement, said: "The graphic images on our television screens bring home the reality of whale hunting. This shows more than ever the EU needs to be united in opposing whaling."
Japan said Friday it would complain to Australia after the release of graphic pictures of whaling operations, accusing Canberra of stirring up emotions.
Australian media on Thursday prominently aired the pictures taken by an Australian customs vessel showing whales being dragged onto a Japanese ship after being harpooned.
Japan has said the pictures were misleading and did not show a lactating mother and her calf as asserted in Australia.
Last November the EU's executive arm expressed concern over Japanese plans to kill up to 1,000 minke, fin and humpback whales in the South Pacific.
"It is now clear to the world the Japan continues to undermine the international efforts to conserve and protect whales despite the International Whaling Commission repeatedly urging Japan to refrain from hunting whales," the Commission statement said.
"The European Commission urges Japan -- once again -- to reconsider its decision and stop the hunt," it continued.
Australia has taken a leading role in opposing Japan's use of a loophole in an international moratorium on whaling to kill the giants of the oceans in the name of research. The meat is then sold in supermarkets and restaurants.
Japan says its whaling is legal and part of its culture and accuses Western countries, led by Australia, of insensitivity.
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's government said photographs released by Australia of two whales killed during this year's hunt in the Southern Ocean were ``emotional propaganda'' that could damage ties between the countries.
Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said yesterday the photos released by his government this week showed a minke mother and calf being dragged onto a Japanese whaling ship after they were shot with an exploding harpoon and were evidence of ``indiscriminate killing.''
The photographs and media reports ``have created a dangerous emotional propaganda that could cause serious damage to the relationship between our two countries,'' Minoru Morimoto, director-general of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, said in a statement yesterday.
The institute oversees the country's $60 million whale research program which may result in as many as 900 minke and fin whales being killed in the Southern Ocean this year. The hunt is allowed under the terms of a moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. Japan dropped a plan to add humpback whales this year after international pressure led by Australia.
He said that the apparent relationship between the whales provided proof of indiscriminate killing that could also be used in a potential legal challenge in an international court.
“I guess when I saw the photos I just felt a bit of a sick feeling as well as a sense of sadness,” Mr Garrett said.
“It’s very disappointing. It’s distressing when you think that it can take up to 15 minutes after a harpoon actually hits a whale for the whale to die. It’s even sadder when you consider there’s a calf involved.”
Japan’s whaling body retaliated swiftly and forcefully, accusing Australia of spreading emotional propaganda that could drive a wedge between the countries. The government-sponsored Institute of Cetacean Research denied that the whales were mother and calf and insisted that they had been caught randomly.
“The Government of Australia’s photographs and the media reports have created dangerous emotional propaganda that could cause serious damage to the relationship between our two countries,” Minoru Morimoto, the institute’s director-general, said.
“It is important the Australian public is not misled into believing false information.”
Whale biologists meeting in New Zealand last night told The Times that the picture showed a mother and calf. Such a young whale, aged less than a year, would only be associated with its mother.
Peter Harrison, director of Southern Cross University’s Whale Research Centre in Australia, said that the whalers had restrictions imposed on them in mid-January after confrontations with environmentalists. “What’s really happening here is . . . they’re running out of time and to get as many whales as possible they are killing anything they can see,” he said.
The Japanese comments were unusually strong for a country where senior government leaders have insisted that the whaling dispute will not damage the alliance between the countries.
Japan has staunchly defended its annual killing of more than 1,000 whales, conducted under a clause in International Whaling Commission rules that allows killing for scientific purposes. It says that whaling is part of Japanese culture and accuses Western countries of insensitivity.
Australia and other critics dismiss the Japanese programme as a disguise for commercial whaling, which is banned, and claim that whale meat ends up in supermarkets and restaurants.
Canberra is continuing to gather evidence, which could be presented in either the International Court of Justice in The Hague or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
A panel of independent legal experts commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare met in London in November and concluded that Japan’s whaling operations violated the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
International criticism, led by Australia, forced Japan in December to call off its first hunt for humpback whales in 40 years
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