campaign-whale.org

Protecting Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises

  • HOME
  • About
  • Support Us
    • Gift Catalogue
    • Join Us
      • Special Membership Offer
    • Celebrity supporters
    • Donate
    • Fundraising
      • Community Fundraising
    • Leaving a Legacy
    • Corporate Support
    • Raising Awareness
    • Volunteering
  • Shop Online
    • Amazon store
    • Buy.At
    • Fluke jewellery
  • Campaigns
  • Research & Reports
    • Climate Change
    • Marine mammal and fisheries interactions
    • Pollution
    • Whaling Industry
  • Kids Page
    • Educational resources
    • Facts about whales, dolphins, and porpoises
    • How can I help Campaign Whale to protect whales?
    • How can I learn more about whales?
    • What threats are whales facing?
  • Media Centre
  • Contact

Japan’s Antarctic whaling may end at last

February 21, 2011 By CW Admin

18th February 2011

The Japanese Government has announced it is ending this year’s controversial Antarctic whaling season early after weeks of harassment by anti-whaling activists at sea. The Japanese ‘research’ whaling fleet is returning to Japan after killing around 170 whales out of a target quota of 850 minke whales; 50 fin and 50 humpbacks.  Only two fin whales have been killed. If true, some 800 whales will have been spared a cruel death.Dead whales aboard factory-ship

Japan has slaughtered around 10,000 whales in Antarctic waters for ‘research’ since the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986. Japan’s whaling fleet also slaughters around 500 whales: 340 minke, 50 Bryde’s, 100 sei and 10 sperm whales in the north-Pacific each year for ‘science’. Scientific whaling is a legal loophole that Japan has used to continue whaling despite the ban on commercial hunting.

Scientific whaling is estimated to cost about 6 billion yen every season. Of this sum, about 800 million yen is covered by government subsidies, while the rest is primarily financed by the sale of whale meat. However with an estimated 6,000 tons of frozen whale meat stockpiled and with a diminishing market for whale meat, the whaling industry could finally collapse.

The Japanese Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano would not comment on whether the Antarctic ‘research’ whaling would end permanently, but escalating costs and declining sales of whale meat are clearly taking their toll.

Some countries, led by the United States, have tried to reach a compromise with Japan over the resumption of commercial whaling, which included the scaling down of Antarctic ‘research’ whaling, but Japan refused to accept the deal and talks broke down at the IWC’s annual meeting in Agadir in June 2010.

Campaign Whale Director Andy Ottaway said, ‘The signs are that the Japanese whaling industry is dying and the end of this cruel, outdated and unnecessary industry cannot come soon enough. However, tens of thousands of dolphins and porpoises are hacked to death by Japanese fishermen every year to produce meat that is dangerously contaminated with mercury and other toxic pollutants harmful to human health. We will not give up until that cruel Japanese tradition is ended too”.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

LATEST NEWS

  • More whale and dolphin killings in the Faroes
  • Faroese whale hunt begins despite health warnings
  • Faroes’ health leader warns of whale meat danger
  • New whaling regulations introduced in the Faroes
  • Campaign Whale at The International Whaling Commission meeting

Make a Donation

More Text Here

Our Mission

Social Media

campaign-whale.org
Copyright © 2017 All Rights Reserved
Campaign Whale is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting whales, dolphins, porpoises and their habitats.
PO Box 179, Newhaven, East Sussex, BN9 1BJ Tel: 01273 515416