Good news from the high seas: After repeated run-ins with the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Society that have prevented its whaling fleet from a successful hunt, Japan’s government announced it is suspending whaling, possibly for the rest of the season.
Whaling was banned under an international agreement in 1986, but Japan has exploited a loophole in the law to maintain a subsidized whaling fleet that kills hundreds of whales a year “for scientific research purposes.”
In recent years that has become harder, though, as international pressure mounted and the Sea Shepherd Society sent ships down to the Antarctic whaling grounds to get between the Japanese ships and their prey, as dramatically televised on Animal Planet’s reality TV show “Whale Wars”.
Last year only 506 minke whales were taken, far short of the 850 planned. And according to the Sea Shepherds, this year’s catch has been minimal.
Victory at sea
“Oh yeah I think you can very well say this is a victory,” Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson told the Wall Street Journal’s Japan Realtime blog by satellite phone from his vessel the Steve Irwin. “This is our best year yet. Every year we come down stronger and every year the whaling fleet comes down weaker.”
The suspension “demonstrates that our tactics, our strategies have been successful,” Watson told Reuters. ”I don’t think they’ve gotten more than 30 whales from what I can think, certainly they haven’t got many whales at all,” he said.
Some kind of altercation happened last week – the Japanese claimed the Sea Shepherds intentionally damaged one of their vessels, while the Shepherds say the Japanese tried to ram and sink their ship – just as they did last year. Whatever transpired, the Japanese government is taking this as a face-saving opportunity to get the hell out.
“Putting safety as a priority, the fleet has halted scientific whaling for now. We are currently considering what to do hereafter,” Fisheries Agency official Tatsuya Nakaoku said.
“We are now studying the situation, including the possibility of cutting the mission early,” he said.
Whalers under pressure
The WSJ notes that the whaling fleet is getting low on fuel after being run ragged by the Sea Shepherds.
And Japanese anti-whaling activists have upped the pressure from within. A trail of the “Tokyo Two”, Toru Suzuki and Junichi Sato, created a backlash. Suzuki is in Australia this week meeting with the Environment Minister about Australia’s plans to take action against Japanese whalers in the International Court of Justice.
Sato says it’s the whale hunters who are now an endangered species.
The tide of public opinion in Japan has finally begun to turn against the whalers, which will eventually drive a stake through the heart of my country’s whaling industry.
The facts are clear: there is shrinking demand for whale meat, and roughly 6,000 tonnes of it are sitting in cold storage. For the first time, people in Japan are beginning to wonder why a fleet of Japanese ships is travelling thousands of miles to bring back unwanted meat.
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- Video: What impact will climate change have on the oceans?
- Explosive charges: California marine protection board hiding from the public
About Jeremy Bloom
For the first time, people in Japan are beginning to wonder why a fleet of Japanese ships is travelling thousands of miles to bring back unwanted meat.