January 16th, 2008 - On November, Japan's whaling fleet set sail from one of its ports for Antarctic waters to start a new "scientific" whaling season.
The "scientific" catches are always controversial, but this year they were even more. The number of whales to be caught spoke for itself: more than 1,000 would be slaughtered in the name of science, becoming, this way, the highest number in history. Even more, this year not only up to 935 Minke whales and 50 Fin whales (being the latter a species considered in danger of extinction) would be captured, but the original proposal also included 50 Humpback whales, which unleashed a widespread reaction around the world.
This reaction included a demarche (diplomatic protest) led by Australia and signed by 30 other countries (including Argentina), demonstrating once again the opposition generated by Japan’s "scientific" whaling programs.
At the end, late on December, Japan announced that it will delay the capture of Humpback whales for one or two years. However, conservationists believe that the raise in the number of whales to be caught and the inclusion of Humpbacks whales is a strategy of negotiation from Japan, after its failure at the last meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) when they tried to get a quota of coastal whaling in Japanese waters.
Meanwhile, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that the Japanese company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, which carries out the catches of whales, has to stop whaling because, according to data submitted to this court, 90% of whales will be caught in an Antarctic area considered as Australian waters by the Government. However, the Australian jurisdiction in this sector is not recognized by Japan, so it remains unknown what will happen regarding this resolution.
Fuente:
WDCS – http://latin.wdcs.org
Humane Society International |
