Greenpeace Protest chasing Japanese whalers

A Greenpeace protest ship located Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and is pursuing it to stop the hunt for the giant sea creatures, the environmental group said Saturday.
Greenpeace said the fleet of six Japanese whalers made off when they saw its ship Esperanza early Saturday.
It said the Esperanza was chasing the large factory ship Nisshin Maru, which was effectively unable to hunt whales as it tried to outrun the Greenpeace vessel.
Greenpeace said in a statement that if the Japanese tried to kill any whales, the Esperanza's crew would use non-violent means to prevent them.
It said the Esperanza had broadcast a message in Japanese and English to the whalers demanding they end the controversial cull.
"Our vessel and crew are here in the Southern Ocean to condemn your hunt, which includes endangered species, and to insist that you leave the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, and return to port immediately," the message said.
Japan's whaling fleet plans to kill around 1,000 whales during this year's hunt.
Tokyo says the slaughter is for scientific research, exploiting a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the meat ends up on Japanese supermarket shelves.
Australia's recently elected government has spearheaded an international campaign to stop the whaling, prompting Japan to last month drop plans to kill 50 humpback whales.
An Australian customs vessel Oceanic Viking set sail from Western Australia for Antarctic waters last Tuesday on a mission to track the whaling fleet and gather evidence for a potential international court case against Tokyo.
The ship will spend 20 days gathering video and photographic evidence of Japan's slaughter of whales, fulfilling a pledge made by the governing Labor Party during the campaign for November's election.

Australia accuses Japan of 'dummy-spit' over whales

Australia's environment minister on Sunday accused Japan of a "dummy-spit" — a childish tantrum — over its failure to lift the ban on commercial whaling at an international conference last week. "It was a very bad conference for Japan," Malcolm Turnbull said of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Alaska.

After losing its bid to overturn the two-decades-old moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan threatened to pull out of the 77-nation IWC and start a breakaway group.

"I think their huge dummy-spit at the end will not reflect well on Tokyo," Turnbull told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I think the Japanese government really has to sit back and ask itself, looking at the debacle that was Japan's outcome at the whaling conference... 'Can we continue to fly in the face of world opinion on this issue?'"

Australia is a leading opponent of the resumption of commercial whaling and a strong critic of Japan's "scientific" whaling program, under which it kills hundreds of whales each year.

This year, it wants to include on the hit list 50 humpback whales from stocks that migrate annually from Antarctic waters along the Australian coast to their breeding grounds in the tropical Pacific.

The plan has caused outrage in Australia, where whale-watching is a multimillion dollar industry with boats taking tourists to see the giant mammals making their way up the country's east coast.

Turnbull said engaging Japan over whaling had to be done constructively.

"Whaling is essentially a nationalistic issue in Japan; that's its support base, so the engagement with Japan has to be as a friend, it has to be candid, it has to be constructive. If you threaten Japan, they dig their heels in."

But he rejected the suggestion that accusing Tokyo of a "dummy-spit" was far from constructive. "Their own mothers would recognize they did a dummy-spit," he said. "To stand up at the end of the conference and say: 'That's it, we're threatening to pull out' — that is a dummy-spit on any view."

Japan hints at withdrawing from IWC to form new whaling body

Japan indicated Thursday it may withdraw from the International Whaling Commission and seek to form a new whaling body as it faced strong opposition to its proposal for small-scale coastal whaling for four Japanese communities.

The Japanese delegation made comments hinting at withdrawal during the final-day session of the four-day IWC annual meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.

Japan said it has put up with "dysfunction" of the IWC ever since the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling was set and that the rejection of the proposal regarding small-scale coastal whaling was the last straw.

"IWC lost the last chance to reclaim the role of a resource management organization. We are not able to give them any more concession," said Akira Nakamae, Japan's alternate commissioner.

"Our resolution was really well thought and there is no logical reason to turn that down from the resource management perspectives," said Nakamae.

As for the forming of the new body, Japan disclosed no details of its plan at the press conference, saying it is very interested in the idea and would explore options in discussion with other countries.

Japan said it was disappointed by not getting any support from the United States on small-scale coastal whaling, as Tokyo was hoping Washington would change its mind and support Japan's resolution.

In line with the hard-line Japanese stance, Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada, who was attending the meeting, withdrew his city's candidacy for hosting the annual IWC meeting in 2009.

"The IWC's policy is nothing but a double standard and I fully support Japan's remarks and actions," said Nakada after the press conference, explaining his decision.

Japan dropped the proposed resolution on small-scale coastal whaling after failing to obtain consensus, and did not call for a vote.

The resolution was submitted earlier in the week, asking the commission to consider implementing interim arrangements to assist coastal whaling communities in Japan.

Earlier in the meeting, the IWC approved a nonbinding resolution for maintaining the moratorium on commercial whaling Thursday.

A group of 26 whaling nations including Japan abstained from voting, while 37 conservation-minded nations supported the resolution.

Australia whale-watchers protest Japan's plans for humpbacks

An Australian petition of almost 40,000 signatures protesting Japan's plans to hunt humpback whales will be handed to the International Whaling Commission at its annual meeting in Alaska next week. The petition was compiled by Whale and Dolphin Watch Australia, a national association representing commercial whale-watching boat operators.

Southern humpbacks migrate north annually to Australian waters from the Antarctic Ocean, where Japan recently decided it would extend its whaling program to include taking 50 of the species. The decision has caused outrage among Australian whale-watching operators, who say it will destroy a tourism industry worth A$300 million (about $247 million) per year.

Tour operator Peter Lynch, who owns Blue Dolphin Marine Tours in the whale-watching town of Hervey Bay on the northeastern coast, said that humpbacks are considered the most outgoing whale species because of their willingness to swim close to boats.

"It is the humpbacks that make the whale-watching industry. They are very boat-friendly," Lynch said. "What we are most worried about in the whale-watching industry is that the Japanese whaling will cause a behavioral change in the humpbacks and they will no longer be willing to come near boats anymore."

Lynch and other whale-watch operators are calling on the Australian government to take a tougher stance than its previous diplomatic protests by imposing trade sanctions against Japan.

The resurgent opposition Australian Labor Party, which is leading in the polls, has declared it will take legal action against Japan for hunting in the protected waters of the Antarctic if it wins office in the upcoming national election, slated for November.

Over the weekend, the party also outlined a plan to use Australian navy ships to intercept Japanese whaling vessels in the Antarctic Ocean.

Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has attacked the plan, saying the action would amount to piracy. The government has also rejected the option of taking legal action against Japan.

21 nations protest over Japan whaling

The governments of at least 21 anti-whaling nations have undertaken the largest single diplomatic protest yet against Japan's lethal scientific whaling program, according to statements released this week by the governments of New Zealand and Australia.

New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter said in a statement that 27 countries took part in a march at the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo last Friday, while a further protest was planned for this week at the Japanese Fisheries Agency. Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell said in a separate statement that far from benefiting the scientific community, "Japan's whaling will undermine international efforts to conserve and protect whales."

Japan welcomes Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling

Japan on Wednesday welcomed Iceland's decision to resume commercial whale hunting as the two countries have long protested the International Whaling Commission moratorium on the activity. A Fisheries Agency official said Reykjavik's decision constitutes "a step aimed at ensuring sustainable use" of marine resources, a goal Japan has said it shares.

Tokyo plans to convene an international meeting next February to discuss how to "normalize" the IWC as a whale stock management body, officials said. Japan hopes to buttress its stance, claiming its scientific findings indicate lifting the moratorium would lead to no depletion in whale populations. Currently, Japan and Iceland hunt minke whales for what they call "scientific research," exploiting what opponents call a loophole in the IWC charter.