JAPAN DISREGARDS BLAIR AND CLINTON AND STARTS NEW WHALE HUNT IN NORTH PACIFIC

29 July 2000

AMSTERDAM -- Greenpeace today condemned Japan's decision to expand its 'scientific' whaling and to kill three protected whale species in the North Pacific, despite opposition from the global community, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and personal appeals from U.S. President Clinton and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"This shows total disregard for the Clinton Administration and for Blair's government. Japan has, once again, shown its determination to resume large scale commercial whaling whatever the cost", said Richard Page of Greenpeace. "It is imperative that the international community intervenes and stops Japan from riding roughshod over world opinion, scientific consensus and the will of the IWC," he added.

The Japanese factory ship, the Nisshin Maru and its fleet of catcher boats are due to depart from Japan tomorrow. For the first time, the fleet aims to kill 50 Bryde's and 10 sperm whales this year in the seas off the coast of Japan, in addition to their annual catch of 100 minke whales (1). Both Bryde's and sperm whales were heavily exploited in the past and the state of their populations remains unknown.

Japan announced its intention to embark on this new programme of 'scientific' whaling immediately after it lost a crucial vote to resume trade in whale meat and blubber at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in April.

Since the CITES meeting, there has been intense diplomatic pressure on Japan to withdraw its plans to extend its whale hunt. Its plans were met by fierce opposition at this month's IWC meeting and resulted in the IWC passing, with an overwhelming majority, a strongly worded resolution which urged Japan not to proceed with the hunt and called its scientific value into question (2).

"Not only has Japan been pressing to lift the ban on trade in whale products, it has upgraded its whaling fleet and has continued to whale in the Southern Ocean in violation of its sanctuary status. Now it is ignoring the ruling by the IWC to desist from its extended whaling programme only days after it was adopted," added Page.

Japan kills more than 500 whales annually by exploiting a loophole in the IWC's rules that allows whaling for scientific research. It claims that the purpose of its extended hunt in the North Pacific is to gather information about the interactions between whales and their prey species. The meat from this, as with its other hunts, will be sold as a delicacy on the open market in Japan. (3)

"Japan clearly has no interest in the future of whale populations or world opinion. How long can the international community continue to tolerate Japan's systematic violation of an vital international agreement?" asked Page.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Richard Page, Greenpeace whale campaigner on +07801 212 973 or
Matilda Bradshaw, Greenpeace International press desk on +31 6 535 04701

(1) Japan began whaling in the North Pacific in 1994. It also hunts over 400 minke whales in the protected Southern Ocean whale sanctuary every year.

(2) IWC resolution IWC/52/36, that condemned Japan's plans to extend its hunt, was passed by the IWC at its most recent meeting in Adelaide by a vote of 19 to 12. The last paragraph and the operating paragraphs are given below:

NOTING, in particular that the Scientific Committee did not endorse the JARPN II proposal (Japanese Research Programme in the North Pacific)

NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION: AFFIRMS that gathering information on interactions between whales and prey species is not a critically important issue which justifies the killing of whales for research purposes;

PROPOSES that information on stock structure, which may be relevant to management, be obtained by non-lethal means; STRONGLY URGES the Government of Japan to refrain from issuing special permits for whaling under JARPN II.

(3) Japan's whaling is managed by the Institute of Cetacean Research which was established in 1987 as a non-profit foundation with a donation of US$10 million from the whaling industry. It is sustained by a grant of approximately US$9 million a year from the Government of Japan together with money derived from the sale of whale meat on the domestic market.