The whaling expedition is moving forward in spite of objections from the governments of Australia and New Zealand and an official ban by the International Court of Justice.
Japan has consistently rejected calls for its to cease its whaling activities, insisting that it’s vital for building a body of research. Under their program, a maximum 333 whales will be killed each year. That’s almost 4,000 over the duration of the program.
In justifying the slaughter, the sheet says: “As there is no other means than lethal methods, at this stage, the use of lethal method is indispensable to obtain age data which is necessary for estimating the age-at-sexual maturity (ASM), which makes considerable contribution to achieving the application of the RMP (Research Management Procedure).”
“Through capturing whales for investigation, Japan is collecting the scientific data and aiming for the resumption of commercial whaling. This official government view doesn’t change,” Hideki Moronuki, senior fisheries negotiator at Japan’s Fishery Agency told CNN.
Someone who is not taking this sitting down is the Sea Shepherd Found Captain Paul Watson, “For years, Sea Shepherd took direct action against the whalers on the seas, saving one whale at a time from the Japanese harpoons,” said Watson. “But if we are to bring the illegal slaughter to an end once and for all, we cannot simply defeat the Japanese whalers on the water; we need to defeat them in the courts.”
Through Operation Ultimate Justice, Sea Shepherd is bringing the battle for the whales into the U.S. courts, asking the courts to order a permanent halt to Japan’s unlawful whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. For more on their mission visit SeaShepherd.org.
SeaShepherd.org
