Conservationists celebrated an overdue victory in April this year when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Japan’s controversial whaling program was illegal. The Japanese government were told to revoke current whaling permits and ordered not to issue any more. Job done. End of the “scientific whaling” charade and the dangerous jostling with the Sea Shepherd fleet in the Southern Ocean. Or so you would think.
Japan has a slippery history when it comes to marine conservation. They have been hunting up to 850 whales a year despite signing a 1986 moratorium which banned commercial whaling. They fudged their way around it by claiming it was for scientific research. But the international court agreed that killing thousands of whales to provide research for just two scientific papers since 2005 was bogus.
Australia initiated the legal action in 2010 and it has enjoyed bipartisan and popular support. It was the first time an environmental treaty had been litigated before the ICJ and it gave hope that it would lead to similar protections being upheld. Japan agreed to abide by the ruling initially but have since indicated they will continue whaling in the Southern Ocean for more “research”.
This isn’t just about the likelihood of more whales getting harpooned. Anyone familiar with the increasingly dire state of the planet’s environmental problems will appreciate the importance of global cooperation in addressing them. Japan’s plan to flaunt the international court is a big spit in the eye. It doesn’t bode well for the planet or for other marine species. To take just one small example Pacific Bluefin Tuna stocks crashed by 96% last year due to overfishing. There is a push to have them protected but Japan, who take the biggest annual haul, are resisting and it is feared the Pacific Bluefin will be fished into extinction in the next few years.
Australia initiated the legal action against Japan’s whaling program so you would expect our pugnacious “environmentalist” Prime Minister would have pressed the issue when he met with Japan’s leader in July. He didn’t. Instead he said Japan deserves “great credit” for respecting the ICJ ruling.
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson (a passionate Tassie surfer profiled in the current issue of Tracks) gate-crashed a state dinner for PM Shinzo Abe and was able to respectfully pass on the following letter from the Sea Shepherd’s founder, Paul Watson. Watson’s aggressive style of activism has made him a controversial figure but when diplomacy, persuasion, peaceful activism and the law have all failed – who or what is the alternative?
(The Letter)
Dear Prime Minster Shinzo Abe,
Since 2002, the Sea Shepherd has been opposing unlawful Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We have had ten campaigns to the Southern Ocean with our ships and international crews of volunteers. During this time I am proud that we have been able to stop the killing of thousands of whales and we have done so without causing a single injury to any of the Japanese whalers. We believe in the sanctity of life and thus we have never injured another human being in the entire history of our movement.
Sea Shepherd volunteers go to the Southern Ocean to defend the integrity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We now have the verdict by the International Court of Justice that Japan’s activities in the Southern Ocean since 1987 have been and continue to be unlawful. We believe this verdict vindicates our opposition to Japan’s illegal activities over the last decade. Your government initially stated that Japan would respect the verdict yet it is now Japans intention to return to the Southern Ocean in 2015 to resume illegal whaling activities in direct violation of this verdict.
On behalf of the Sea Shepherd volunteers worldwide I would like to respectfully request that Japan abide by the ICJ ruling and that Japan respects both the moratorium on commercial whaling and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
If the Japanese whaling fleet returns to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 2015, the ships and the volunteers from Sea Shepherd will also return to oppose any continued unlawful whaling activities.
Japan has no traditional claim or right to kill whales in the Southern Ocean. Japan has no right to target endangered Fin and Humpback whales and Japan has no right to kill whales in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Sea Shepherd is not anti-Japanese. In fact we very much respect Japanese culture and traditions and we have had many Japanese citizens participate in our campaigns. Sea Shepherd’s opposition is based on the fact that it is unlawful to engage in commercial whaling and it is unlawful to kill whales in an internationally established whale sanctuary.
There is no need for this conflict to continue. Japan has no need to kill whales any longer. In fact whaling continues only because of subsidies from the Japanese government. In return for ending whaling, Japan will gain the respect and admiration of conservationist around the world.
The whales of our oceans have suffered for centuries. It is time for humanity to end our brutality against the nation of whales. It is time for humanity to respect and protect life and diversity in our oceans.
I would like to see Japan become a great maritime conservation nation and to shed its present reputation as a nation that takes from the sea and gives nothing back.
Our ocean is dying Mr Prime Minister and when the ocean dies, we will follow. We cannot live on this planet with a dead ocean.
I would like to see a world where Japan is a part of the solution to saving our ocean and not one of the major problems. And a good place to start is to comply with the International Court of Justice and to cease illegal operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
For our ocean and for the whales,
Captain Paul Watson
Founder (1977) Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
One of the many humpbacks worth saving putting on a show on their annual migration north. Photo: Joli
