Australia Wants Whalers Out of Whale Sanctuary

Australia Wants Whalers Out of Whale Sanctuary



January 2008  - With less than three weeks 
in office, the new Australian government is planning diplomatic and legal 
action against Japan's so-called "research" whaling. Much Japanese whaling 
takes place in the Australian Whale Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean, where 
the Japanese whaling fleet is right now, pursuing whales.

Taking a stronger stand than the previous government, which also opposed 
Japanese whaling, Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Foreign Minister 
Stephen Smith said Wednesday that Australia will send planes and a ship to 
conduct surveillance of Japanese whaling ships and gather photo and video 
evidence in preparation for legal action. 
Smith said, "It'll be surveillance, not enforcement or interdiction or 
intervention for the purposes of that surveillance, the customs boarding 
party will not be armed, and the Ocean Viking will not be armed." 
Meanwhile, in the next few days the Australian government will formally 
urge Japan to end the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean. 
"We are dealing here with the slaughter of whales, not scientific 
research," Smith told a news conference. "That is our start point and our 
end point." 
Calling whaling a "senseless and brutal practice," the ministers said a 
special envoy on whale conservation will be appointed to convey 
Australia's views to Japan and increase and strengthen dialogue at senior 
levels. 

In Tokyo, they said, Australia will lead a coalition of anti-whaling 
countries in lodging a formal protest with the Japanese government. 
In addition, Garrett and Smith said they will "directly register their 
concerns with their Japanese counterparts." 
Japanese whaling vessels have already reached the Southern Ocean and the 
Japanese government has announced a self-imposed quota of up to 935 minke 
whales, 50 vulnerable humpback whales and 50 endangered fin whales in its 
largest-ever "research" whale hunt. 
In 1986, the International Whaling Commission, IWC, imposed a moratorium 
on all commercial whaling to give the 13 species of great whales a chance 
to recover from over a century of whaling that brought many species close 
to extinction. 
The moratorium is still in effect, but the IWC allows member governments 
to grant special "scientific" permits to catch whales. Japan has issued 
scientific permits every year since the moratorium took effect. 
While Australia "values its extensive and mutually beneficial relationship 
with Japan," the ministers said, "Australia strongly believes that there 
is no credible scientific justification for the hunting of whales and is 
opposed to all commercial and 'scientific' whaling." 
"One of the few issues on which we fundamentally disagree is Japan's 
policy of undertaking so-called 'scientific whaling' in the face of 
widespread opposition from the Australian and international community," 
Smith and Garrett said. 
The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo responds to 
international opposition by arguing that current population assessments 
are "out of date" and that there are many more whales in the ocean than 
reported by the IWC and the IUCN-World Conservation Union.
 
Minoru Morimoto, director general of the institute, says, "Japan's 
research makes a valuable contribution to the management of Antarctic 
whale species to ensure that any future commercial whaling regime is 
robust and sustainable and that a take of 50 humpback whales would have no 
impact on the population or the whale-watching industry." 
Morimoto says the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists humpback 
whales as Vulnerable, but points to the IUCN web page showing that listing 
as "out of date" and the population trend as increasing. 
He says the IWC Scientific Committee estimate of 42,000 humpback whales 
applies to 1997-1998. 
Using the Scientific Committee's estimate that the humpback whale 
population is growing at 10 percent per year, Morimoto says, "It would now 
be more than 2.5 times what it was at that time and more than three times 
what it was when IUCN did their assessment." 
The fin whale is listed by the IUCN Red List as Endangered, but the 
listing is described as "out of date" because the population assessment 
was done in 1996. 
Nearly three-quarters of a million fin whales were reportedly taken in the 
Southern Hemisphere alone between 1904 and 1979, according IWC figures 
noted on the IUCN Red List. 
The IUCN says, "Fin whales are rarely encountered today in those areas of 
the Southern Hemisphere where they were taken in large numbers. The 
species was classified as Endangered (under the 1996 categories and 
criteria) on the basis of an estimated decline of at least 50 percent 
worldwide over the last three generations - assumed generation time was 
20–25 years. 
The Australian ministers say the government led by Prime Minister Kevin 
Rudd will "upgrade" efforts at the International Whaling Commission, which 
holds its annual meeting next June in Santiago, Chile. 
Garrett and Smith said, "The government will develop its own proposal for 
improving and modernizing the IWC - which will include closing the 
loophole that allows for scientific whaling." 
 
The Humane Society International, HSI, based in Australia welcomed the 
Rudd government's plan of action against Japanese whaling. 
"Sending a vessel down to monitor the hunt is a significant step further 
than the previous government was prepared to take and we hope it will 
signal to Japan that their disrespect for international and Australian law 
to protect whales will no longer be tolerated. However, it remains to be 
seen whether this action will be sufficient to stop the hunt taking 
place," said Nicola Beynon, HSI wildlife and habitat program manager. 
HSI is awaiting a ruling from the Australian Federal Court where the 
organization is seeking an injunction to order that the hunt in the 
Australian Whale Sanctuary be stopped. 
The previous government had opposed the case due to the diplomatic 
ramifications it could have with the Japanese government. 
The Rudd government has withdrawn the previous government's submission to 
the Federal Court , which expressed those concerns, and asked the court to 
disregard the opposition of the previous government. 
"If HSI is successful in securing an injunction, we and the Australian 
public will be expecting the government to enforce it," said Benyon. 
In its pre-election platform, the newly elected Australian Labor Party 
gave commitments to enforce an injunction if it is issued. 
"If they have a vessel in proximity to the whale hunt, they will be well 
placed to do so," said Beynon. "This hunt cannot be allowed to go ahead." 
"There is very little that is new here," said Captain Paul Watson from 
onboard the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin off the coast of Antarctica. The 
ship is headed to the Southern Ocean to interrupt the Japanese whale hunt. 

"The Australian government is going to take some pictures of the Japanese 
whalers killing whales but will do nothing to intervene against the 
slaughter," said Watson. "This is simply more pictures, more talk and more 
posturing, in short more of the same approaches that have totally failed 
for the last 21 years." 
Watson says Sea Shepherd members do not understand how Australia can 
enforce fishing regulations against toothfish poachers from Uruguay yet 
cannot intervene against the slaughter of the whales in these same waters, 
"waters that are clearly marked on the nautical charts as part of the 
Australian Economic Exclusion Zone." 
"This new approach clearly has the approval of the government, 
particularly the Japanese government with whom Australia most likely 
consulted for the proper and acceptable wording," said Watson. "Our 
response to Australia's announcement of their plan to protect the whales 
is to drop the camera and pick up your guns and enforce the bloody laws, 
mate." 

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