I don't understand why Japan as a wealthy nation would continue
to pursue such a trade. I see no reason, or justification for a
Whales killing expedition.
SHIMONOSEKI, Japan - A Japanese whaling fleet sailing
toward waters off Antarctica to kill protected humpback whales was
itself the target of a hunt Monday by environmental activists who
vowed to disrupt the expedition. Greenpeace said its protest ship
Esperanza was searching for the fleet south of Japanese territorial
waters and would shadow the ships to the South Pacific to try to
reduce their catch.
Its a large ocean, but were going to track them down,
expedition member Dave Walsh told The Associated Press by telephone
Monday. In a statement, Greenpeace expedition leader Karli Thomas
added that "the whaling fleet must be recalled now. If it is not,
we will take direct, non-violent action to stop the hunt." The
Japanese fleet was embarking on the countrys largest whaling
expedition, targeting protected humpbacks for the first time since
the 1960s. In a farewell ceremony Sunday for the four-ship
expedition, officials told a crowd at the southern Japanese port of
Shimonoseki that Japan should preserve its whale-eating
culture.
Theyre violent environmental terrorists, mission leader Hajime
Ishikawa said. Their violence is unforgivable ... We must fight
against their hypocrisy and lies. Families waved little flags
emblazoned with smiling whales and the crew raised a toast with
cans of beer, while a brass band played Popeye the Sailor Man.
The whalers plan to kill up to 50 humpbacks in what is believed to
be the first large-scale hunt for the once nearly extinct species
since a 1963 moratorium in the Southern Pacific put the giant
marine mammals under international protection.
The mission also aims to take as many as 935 minke whales and up to
50 fin whales in what Japans Fisheries Agency says is its
largest-ever scientific whale hunt. The expedition lasts through
April. Japan says it needs to kill the animals in order to conduct
research on their reproductive and feeding patterns.
Alleged cover for commercial whaling
While scientific whale hunts are allowed by the International
Whaling Commission, or IWC, critics say Japan is simply using
science as a cover for commercial whaling. Ken Findlay, a whale
biologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, said the
humpback population was recovering but said he was worried Japan
would kill whales from vulnerable breeding grounds like those off
New Zealand.
He also said Japans hunting methods were unnecessarily cruel.
Japanese whalers sometimes chase wounded animals for hours, he
said. I dont think firing a harpoon at a whale and then dragging
it next to the ship is ethical, Findlay said. You question the
necessity of that. Its not research.
An IWC moratorium on commercial whaling took effect in 1986, but
Japan where coastal villages have hunted whales for hundreds of
years has killed almost 10,500 mostly minke and Brydes whales
under research permits since then. Tokyo has argued unsuccessfully
for years for the IWC to overturn the moratorium
