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4 April 2002
Bogus whaling research expedition
returns
Amsterdam - Defying a worldwide moratorium on whale hunting, Japan's
whaling fleet is returning this week from the Antarctic carrying
two thousand tons of whale meat for commercial sale caught in a
whale sanctuary 6000 miles from Japan. For the past 15 years, the
Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) has subsidised the hunt for whales
through a private organisation set up by Japan's whaling industry
under the guise of "scientific research".
 "The
FAJ claims that whales are eating too many fish, but we can tell
you the results of their "research" right now - not one
of the 440 whales they caught had eaten fish. This species does
not eat fish and this has been known for decades. They claim to
be doing research for the International Whaling Commission, but
that body has never requested this program and has repeatedly called
for it to be cancelled and does not need the data produced,"
said John Frizell, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.
In a recent independent poll done by a Japanese newspaper, 36 percent
of the Japanese questioned were against whale hunting. This is up
from 35 percent in 1993 who opposed whale hunting. Only 4 percent
said they ate whale meat "sometimes" and an additional
9 percent ate it "very rarely". Part of the last "research"
catch was returned to the wholesalers unsold.
Also of concern is the FAJ's efforts to buy pro-whaling votes at
the International Whaling Commision using their Overseas Development
Assistance. It is feared amongst conservation minded governments
and environmental groups that the FAJ may assemble a pro-whaling
majority at the IWC and try to overturn the present moratorium or
to expand the present "scientific research" whaling to
other species and other sanctuaries.
 "Fishery
officials have been particularly ruthless in waging a disinformation
campaign. They have been claiming that whales eat too many fish
and that anti-whalers are unscientific and sentimental. The real
issue is overfishing by humans and this is a story that the FAJ
don't want told," said Frizell. "Whales already face threats
from degradation of the oceans caused by humans. Whales don't need
to be made a scapegoat for overfishing. What they need is an end
to whaling."
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