SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
Japan resumes whale hunting, claims scientific motive
Japanese whaling ships head to Antarctica for what the government calls scientific research, as activists continue to fight the practice.
Fri, Nov 20 2009 at 12:33 PM
Photo: Greenpeace
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ran his campaign partially on the promise to fight the waste of taxpayer money. Yet, a fleet of highly controversial, taxpayer-funded whaling ships has left port, headed toward Antarctica to initiate this year’s hunt – and Greenpeace is determined to remind Hatoyama of his oath.
Unfurling a large banner reading “Yes We Can” left over from U.S. President Barack Obama’s campaign on their own anti-whaling ship, Greenpeace activists hope to remind the Japanese government that whaling is a taxpayer-subsidized activity.
But Japan calls the whale hunting expedition scientific research, citing an exception in the 1986 international moratorium that allows whaling for scientific purposes.
"Japan's so-called scientific whaling is nothing less than commercial whaling in disguise. You don't need to kill whales to study them," said Darren Kindleysides, director of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).
Many activists had hoped that Hatoyama’s election, and plans to review Japan’s government spending, would slow down whale hunting.
But as the fifth season of the country’s scientific whaling program known as 'JARPA II' begins, anti-whaling campaigners fear that more whales than ever will die.
The Japanese whalers plan to kill 50 humpback whales, breaking a four-decade ban on hunting humpbacks, in addition to the 1,000 minke whales and fin whales they have in their sights.
"The whalers have our beloved humpbacks in their sights — the same whales that migrate to Australia during winter, the same whales that support our multimillion dollar whale-watching industries on our East and West coasts,” laments Kindleysides.
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- Student science experiment finds plants won't grow near Wi-Fi router
- 15 famous people who mysteriously disappeared
- 9 habits that may do more harm than good
- 10 false facts most people think are true
- 13 natural remedies for the ant invasion
- The 9 nastiest things in your supermarket
- How to get a second crop of tomatoes -- for free
- Jon Stewart explains the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’
- Bras don't actually work, says French study
- What is the 'Monsanto Protection Act'?
NEWSLETTER
Advertisement
Japanese, stop killing whales!
Japanese, stop killing whales!
Japanese, stop killing whales!
Japanese, stop killing whales!
stop killing!!!!!!
Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese Fuck Japanese
Everyone knows it's not for research. Go to Japan and look at their markets. What about the International ban on whaling? Go to the Japenese President and ask him how their researching by blowing up the inside of the whale.
How can they continue to do this when everyone has seen the whale meat in their supermarkets? When is this going to be stopped? What is it going to take to stop it????