Print

Mail

wiki links

Anti-whaling activists end standoff in Japan

The Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship `Esperanza' sailing into Yokohama Bay yesterday after spending six days drifting off the coast off Tokyo, Japan, due to a ban stopping it from going into port. PHOTO: AFP

A ship of Greenpeace anti-whaling activists anchored in Japan yesterday, ending a nearly week-long standoff after the country's sailors' union blocked the vessel from arriving.

The Dutch-flagged Esperanza, which trailed Japan's whaling fleet for more than a month in the Antarctic, sailed into Yokohama, a major port just south of Tokyo.

The 23 people aboard the vessel have planned a week of campaigning in hopes of building sympathy in whale-hunting Japan for the giant mammals.

"We're here and we're official," Greenpeace spokeswoman Sara Holden said from aboard the Esperanza.

"It took a lot of effort to do so, but it's important for us to come and to try to really start a debate," she said.

The Esperanza arrived in Japanese waters on Tuesday but was unable to dock after the agent handling its paperwork backed out under pressure from Japan's sailors' union.

Greenpeace finally acted as its own agent to secure docking privileges as the ship drifted at sea.

Japan, which argues that whale meat is part of its culture, kills some 1,000 whales a year, mostly in the Antarctic Ocean which Australia and New Zealand consider a sanctuary for the animals.

Greenpeace said it would invite diplomats from countries that are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to tour the Esperanza, which was flying a banner reading, "We love Japan, but not whaling in the sanctuary."

The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986 on the grounds that the mammals were endangered and that the hunt was cruel.

Japan uses a loophole that allows hunting for scientific research, while campaigning for an outright resumption of commercial whaling.

Japan bristles at what it calls Western insensitivity to its culture, but critics point to a glut of whale meat on the market, with a government-backed body now trying to promote whale through school lunches.

"What is important is that the information is not being represented to the public on whether they want to use taxpayers' money on a program that doesn't have any scientific or economic justification," Holden said.

Earlier this year, activists of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a more militant splinter group of Greenpeace, threw acid on the whalers' mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, leading Japan to brand environmentalists "terrorists."

A fire later broke out on the Nisshin Maru, leaving one crewman dead. While both sides said the fire was unconnected to the protests, the incident forced Japan to cut short the hunt after killing little more than half the intended catch.

Greenpeace condemned the militant activists and offered to help the Nisshin Maru, although Japan says it refused any assistance.
This story has been viewed 1623 times.