UK Independent: Pro-hunting Japanese seize control of whaling commission

[Robbien]

The environmental movement is facing one of its biggest-ever reverses, over one of its most cherished causes: Save The Whale.

. . .

While the world has been looking the other way, the Japanese have spent nearly a decade and many millions of dollars building up a voting majority in the IWC, by buying the votes of small member states with substantial foreign aid packages.

. . .

But anyone who opposes killing the great whales, or who thought that the main battle against the harpooners had been won, is in for a nasty surprise when at the IWC meeting in the West Indies, two months from now, this new majority is likely to become clear, and to be exercised for the first time. It will be a huge propaganda victory for the Japanese and the other nations determined to continue whale hunting, principally Norway and Iceland.

. . .

It will also allow them to get resolutions passed approving Japan's so-called "scientific" whaling - the commercial whaling in disguise the Japanese have continued since the ban. (This year they are hunting nearly 1,000 minke whales in the Southern Ocean). Although their pretence of killing the animals for research fools no one - the meat is sold commercially - the Japanese are anxious for it to be given international legitimacy, in the face of continuing worldwide criticism.

But perhaps most significantly of all, the majority vote will enable the introduction of secret ballots in the IWC - where voting is at present open. This will mean that Japan's vote-buying can no longer be tracked, and will open the way for more countries to join the Japanese in their quest to have the moratorium ultimately overturned.

More:
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article358190.ece

[SaveElmer]

1. Makes me ashamed to be of Norwegian origin...

Guess I'll be sending more money to Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd

[Barrett808]

2. Sea Shepherd Whale Campaign Site:

Sea Shepherd and the Whales
http://seashepherd.org/whales/whales.html

[Baclava]

3. How much is blubber selling for these days?

Or are whale oil lamps making a comeback?

[Briar]

4. So why, exactly, is Tokyo so keen on whale hunting?

So why, exactly, is Tokyo so keen on whale hunting?

By David McNeill In Tokyo

Ask a Japanese person under 40 how much whale they consume and you're likely to get a blank look. Most would no more go out of their way to eat whale than a Londoner would to eat jellied eel...

...After decades in the diplomatic and military shadow of the US, Japan's nationalists feel this is one area where they can make some noise. Besides, if they back down on whales, restrictions on other marine resources may follow, including that beloved staple, tuna.

Japan's whaling "research fleet" is supported by nationalist politicians, mainly within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. This lobby champions the tradition of whale hunting in a handful of fishing communities, and has spent billions of yen in an effort to reverse the 1986 ban.

...

Without the nationalists' support, there is little prospect that whale hunting would be economically viable: the sale of whale meat barely covers the cost of sending Japan's eight whaling ships out of harbour.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article358172.ece

[Robbien]

7. Thanks. That clears up my confusion.

These days I thought whale meat was only prized in colder climates like Alaska, and even there only by some natives.

Wondered why they would want to repeal this ban.

[ladjf]

5. Once again, the Japanese show that they have no long range

sense or compassion.

[Kagemusha]

6. "the Japanese" ?... Read the article quoted above, please.

(Edit: By which I mean post #4 of this thread.)

Most Japanese couldn't care less about the pro-whaling lobby. There is no need to tar all Japanese with this, or all Jews over Palestine, or similar things.

I'm not Japanese btw, but it is one of my languages.