Petition to End Japanese Whale Hunting

“Japan and the Whale,” BBC News, 8 February 2016:

“It may seem incredibly banal. But Japan’s determination to continue whaling may come down to a handful of MPs from whaling constituencies and a few hundred bureaucrats who don’t want to see their budgets cut.”

“Japan won’t stop whaling, so Anonymous hacked the Japanese Prime Minister,” Yahoo, 14 December 2015

Australia considers taking Japan back to International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Sea Shepherd’s vessel, Steve Irwin sets sail to confront the illegal Japanese whaling fleet, 8 December 2015

Sea Shepherd vessel, Steve Irwin

Help Sea Shepherd Fight Japan’s Litigation, “Operation Ultimate Justice,” 5 December 2015

“Japan’s ‘Scientific’ Whale Program is a Blatant Sham,” Perth Now, 5 December 2015

“[Japan’s] long-held, bloody-minded determination to kill whales, at whatever cost to reputation or national psyche, is still hard to fathom.” – Liam Bartlett, Perth Today, 5 December 2015

“Japan’s Latest Move,” Ocean Alliance, 3 December 2015

“Japanese Whaling Ships Depart for Antarctic Hunt,” BBC News, 1 December 2015

“Resumption of Antarctic Whaling Flouts Rule of Law,” The Japan Times, 21 November 2015

“Sea Shepherd Condemns Japan’s Criminal Conspiracy to Poach Whales in the Southern Ocean,” 29 November 2015

Japan’s histroic vote buying at the International Whaling Commission, Los Angles Times, 22 June 2010 

“Japan’s Bribes on Whaling Exposed,” The Sunday Times, 13 June 2010

It’s no secret that Japan has sought to circumvent the ethics of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), “buying” the votes of Eastern Caribbean countries, plus Cambodia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati and Laos……..Japan pays the join up fees to IWC, builds ‘facilities’ in country and then seduces its new ‘IWC friends’ with bribes and lavish hospitality. Does this sound like the actions of a decent, respectful country, or one that seeks to pervert others to its own cause, killing whales? Can anyone trust Japan’s ‘activities’ within the IWC ever again?

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“Court Fines Japanese Whalers $1 million,” 18 November 2015

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Petition – You Can Make Japanese Whaling a (EU) Deal Breaker 

Petition – Stop Japan from Murdering Minke Whales

Petition – Stop Japan’s Plan to Bring Back Antarctic Whaling

Petition – End Japanese Whale Hunting

Petition – Stop Hunting Whales Japan

Petition – Stop Cruel Japanese Whale Hunt

Petition – Ban Resumption of Whaling in Antarctic

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Despite the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banning commercial whaling in 1986, Japan  continued to hunt whales under the pretence of “research.”

Japan said it would abide by the 31 March 2014 ruling from the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Japan to stop hunting whales off Antarctica.

Japan had long claimed that its programme to take minke, fin, and humpback whales in the waters surrounding Antarctica (referred to in the ruling as the Southern Ocean) was aimed at collecting “scientific data.”

The ICJ, headquartered at the Hague in the Netherlands, found that Japanese programme was not “scientific in nature” and that it could be considered “commercial whaling.”

Before the ICJ ruling, Japan was hunting a quantity which was close to 900 whales per season.

In light of the ICJ ruling, Japan suspended its annual whale hunt in 2014, but has since ‘made plans’ for the next twelve years to take a ‘quota’ of 3,996 whales (or 333 whales per year) starting in 2015.

Japan has ‘explained’ its ‘reasoning’ with its usual nonsense that Japan needs to do this “to obtain information on the age of population and a second reason is to set the safe levels of catch limits and also, to ensure sustainability.”

In October, (Ref: Sydney Morning Herald, 19 October 2015) Japan moved to try and distance itself from future challenge to its Antarctic whaling in the ICJ. The Japanese government has also told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in a special declaration that Japan will take a sweeping exception to the ICJ’s jurisdiction.

Japan says the ICJ’s jurisdiction “does not apply to … any dispute arising out of, concerning, or relating to research on, or conservation, management or exploitation of, living resources of the sea.”

No Japan – your ‘plan’ is a programme of ‘commercial whaling’ pure and simple, a clear breach of the IWC and ICJ rulings – Japan needs to receive a firm International response that its intentions are not acceptable now, or anytime in the foreseeable future.