Japan’s whaling fleet set out for the Antarctic yesterday to resume a hunt for the mammals after a year-long hiatus, prompting criticism from Australia as well as key ally the US.
Japan aims to take more than 300 whales before the hunt ends next year and nearly 4,000 over the next 12 years as part of a scientific program to research the whales.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled last year that Japan’s whaling in the Southern Ocean should stop and an International Whaling Commission (IWC) panel said in April that Japan had yet to demonstrate a need for killing whales.
Photo: Reuters/Kyodo
However, Tokyo retooled its plan for the 2015-2016 season to cut the number of minke whales it intends to take to 333, down by two-thirds from previous hunts.
“Last year, regrettably, the ICJ made its ruling and we were unable to take whales,” said Tomoaki Nakao, mayor of the western city of Shimonoseki that is home to the whaling fleet and part of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s election district.
“There’s nothing as happy as this day,” he told the fleet’s crew at a ceremony prior to their departure.
Shortly before noon the ships sailed away under a clear blue sky, with family members and officials waving from the shore. The hunt is expected to last until March.
Japan, which has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is part of its food culture, began what it calls scientific whaling in 1987, a year after an international whaling moratorium took effect.
The meat ends up on store shelves, although most Japanese no longer eat it.
Officials, including Abe, have long said their ultimate goal is the resumption of commercial whaling — a pledge Abe repeated in a message read at the pre-departure ceremony.
Australia and the US both opposed the hunt.
“We believe that all of Japan’s primary research objectives can be met through non-lethal activities and continue to oppose their scientific whaling programs,” US Commissioner to the IWC Russell Smith said.
Environmental activists also condemned the move.
“It is completely unacceptable for the Japanese government to ignore the International Court of Justice,” Greenpeace Japan executive director Junichi Sato said in a statement.
“This is not ‘scientific research,’ this is straight-up commercial whaling,” Sato said.
Other conservationists called for another legal challenge.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Australian Marine Conservation Society said a panel of legal experts asked to consider Japan’s latest whaling mission had found it broke international law.
“The panel concluded that Japan’s new whaling programme violates international law and that Australia or other countries still have options to challenge Japan’s actions before international courts,” chair and Australian National University professor Donald Rothwell said.
Atsushi Ishii, an expert on international relations at Japan’s Tohoku University, said Japan’s refusal to give up the Antarctic mission despite censure by the international court is largely due to a small group of powerful politicians.
“Why resume whaling? Because a group of pro-whaling lawmakers don’t like the image that they succumbed to pressure from Sea Shepherd,” he said, referring to an environmental group that has repeatedly clashed with Japanese whaling missions.
Sea Shepherd Australia said on Monday it would follow the latest mission.
Tokyo said in response that it would try to secure the safety of the 160 crew members by sending patrol boats to guard the fleet and strengthening “self-protection measures.”
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