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28 February 2002
Japanese whalers to target endangered
Sei whales
Washington - The Government of Japan's abuse of science as a cover
for its whaling programs has taken a new turn with the announcement
that they intend to begin catching an endangered species.
Fifty Sei whales, officially listed as an endangered species in
the IUCN red data book (1) are to be caught by a Japanese factory
ship in an expansion of their 'scientific' whaling program in the
North Pacific ocean. The Japanese government had tried to keep the
new plan strictly confidential until shortly before the whalers
were ready to sail in June, but were forced to disclose it when
a Japanese wire service obtained a copy of the plan.
Japan's Fisheries Agency has long used the excuse of 'scientific
research' to catch whales for the commercial market in Japan.
Ironically, with changing tastes among the young coupled with the
recession in Japan, the market for whale meat is steadily weakening.
Some of the meat from last year's 'research' whaling in the Antarctic
remained unsold. Meat from last summer's expedition to the North
Pacific remains in a stockpile in Japan and has not been released
to retailers. The Fisheries Agency has been forced to issue glossy
pamphlets promoting whale meat in an effort to increase sales. A
MORI poll in December 1999 found that the majority of Japanese people
no long eat whale meat and Greenpeace Japan staff report that it
has become a "high class expensive food".
"Japan's 'scientific' whaling is an insult to science,"
said Greenpeace campaigner Dr. de Fontaubert, "and to claim
that whales are eating too many fish is absurd. Decreased catches
of fish are caused by human over fishing, not by the remnants of
whale populations occupying the same ecological niches they have
occupied for tens of millions of years," she added.
Japan claims it needs to catch whales to find out what they eat.
Yet tens of thousands of whales were taken during commercial whaling
operations in the past and studies then confirmed that 85 percent
of their stomach contents were copepods (a type of tiny crustacean)
and krill.
"Greenpeace calls on Japan to immediately withdraw this proposal
and, if it wishes to research whales, to do so entirely by non lethal
means. We expect all conservation minded nations to protest directly
to the Government of Japan and call for an immediate halt to this
so called 'scientific' whaling," concluded Dr. de Fontaubert.
Note:
(1) see http://www.redlist.org
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