Humane Society International Vice President Kitty Block released the following statement praising the government of South Korea for its decision to drop its controversial proposal to launch a lethal
scientific whaling program in 2013:
Read the statement from HSI Vice President Kitty Block, praising the government of South Korea for its decision to drop its controversial proposal to launch a lethal scientific
whaling program in 2013.
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Similarly, Norway was convinced to end its
commercial whaling program in 1991 after the United States threatened to use the Pelly Amendment.
South Korea did not submit a formal proposal to the IWC by the Dec. 3 deadline, which means that its proposed
lethal whaling program will not go forward next year.
«This is a real shot across the bow,» said Patrick Ramage, global
whale program director with the International Fund for Animal Welfare
Japan's
whaling program suffered a severe setback on 31 March 2014 when The Hague - based International Court of Justice (ICJ) found the lethal sampling was not justified «for purposes of scientific research.»
In the annex, 44 scientists from 18 of the 33 countries attending the session on Japan's research
whaling program wrote, «the need for lethal sampling has not been demonstrated.»
Participants of hands - on dolphin and
whale programs not only create memories that last a lifetime, but research indicates that participants of these types of programs are more likely to increase their conservation - related knowledge, attitude and behavior than prior to the experience.
Yet, Tokyo seems paralyzed by the same combination of nationalist passions and entrenched bureaucratic interests that have previously blocked any action to limit the three - decade -
old whaling program.
Noting that the Japanese
Antarctic whaling program had published just half a dozen papers in international journals over the last decade, he said, «This is a terrible record for a huge program that has been operating for years and killing thousands of animals for research.»
With the hunting of hundreds of whales at stake, the debate over the scientific value of Japan's
whaling program boils down to dueling photograph displays of whale digestive systems.
In 2004, Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans made a certification regarding Iceland under the Pelly Amendment because its scientific
whaling program diminished the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
It is the strongest third - party rebuke of Japan's disguised commercial
whaling program ever, and it has the force of international law behind it.
Japan's scientific
whaling program continued to draw criticism, especially following new reports that nearly one third of the minke whales killed were pregnant.
A prominent case in point, the authors say, is IWC's experience with Japan's controversial
research whaling programs: Although IWC rules have required a lengthy scientific review of that effort, which began in 1987, the process has also allowed Japanese researchers to essentially ignore the critique.
The United Nations» highest court dealt a blow to Japan's scientific
whaling program in the Antarctic, saying it isn't science.
When Japan announced its
scientific whaling program in 1987, Japanese Fisheries Minister Moriyoshi Sato told its citizens, «The government will do its utmost to find ways to maintain the nation's whaling in the form of research or other forms.»
Japan has to stop capturing and killing whales under
its whaling program in the Antarctic, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said.
Japan joined an international moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, but continued with «scientific»
whaling programs that it claimed were exempt from the agreement.
In its statement, IWC points out its reviews and reports «have been widely debated and referenced by parties on all sides of the [scientific whaling] debate including the 2014 ruling of the International Court of Justice,» which found that Japan's
whaling program was not about science.
Japan suspended part of
its whaling program after that ruling, but has since resumed hunting.
Critics say Japan doesn't listen to scientific advice on its research
whaling program.
Consequently, little is known about them, despite their being the most common whale in Antarctica and the objects of Japan's controversial scientific
whaling program.
Friedlaender says his research casts doubt on Japan's scientific
whaling program, which has purported to study minke feeding biology and has killed between 240 and 860 of the animals every year since 1988.
«We demand that the government respect the international rules and not carry out any new research
whaling program,» Greenpeace Japan said in a statement released last week.
Morishita had little to say about a report in The Sydney Morning Herald today that Australia is considering bringing Japan back to the ICJ to halt
the whaling program.
The whaling program is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission which reports to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
JAPANESE DOCUMENTARY TO «COUNTER» THE COVE A minke whale taken as part of Japan's research
whaling program is unloaded in the eastern Hokkaido port of Kushiro last September.
The Agriculture Ministry, which runs Japan's widely criticized research
whaling program, said harassment by the group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, had kept its catch far below its annual target of whales.
Patrick Ramage, the director of
the whale program for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, put it this way:
For the moment, it's unclear whether
the whaling program — which Japan has long cast as important scientific research but many biologists and activists decry — is in danger, according to our Tokyo reporters.
A study last year by the Democratic Party showed that the Institute of Cetacean Research, a ministry - controlled agency that oversees the research
whaling program, reserves jobs for at least five former ministry officials, including one earning an annual salary of more than $ 130,000.
Japan's
whaling program has struggled financially in recent years, as more Japanese consumers turn up their noses at whale meat and as environmental activists chasing whaling boats make the hunts more difficult.
In fact, nationalist reactions to extreme environmentalists» tactics and pressure from western countries may have prolonged
the whaling program.
Here's earlier coverage of Iceland's
whaling program and video from Greenpeace showing the first fin whale hauled ashore in Iceland's 2009 whaling season.
Australia took Japan to the international court of justice over its Southern Ocean
whaling program in 2014, winning a judgment that condemned Japan's whaling programs as being in breach of the International Whaling
Specifically, in 1999, HSI hatched an idea to challenge Japan at the International Court of Justice for its so - called scientific
whaling programs.
Just 48 hours after the International Court of Justice called for a halt to Japan's
whaling program — declaring it in violation of an International Whaling Commission moratorium — Japan has announced that it will not send a whaling fleet to the Southern Ocean this hunting season.