Japanese raiders here for kill
By Lincoln Wright and Mary Papadakis
November 28, 2004
JAPANESE whalers will kill hundreds of minke whales in Southern Ocean waters off Victoria for what they say is research.
The Japanese are ruthlessly exploiting a loophole in International Whaling Commission laws allowing them to harpoon whales for spurious "scientific" reasons.
In reality, the meat is sold to Japanese consumers. Whale meat is a prized Japanese delicacy, costing about $25,000 a tonne wholesale or $100 a plate.
Now an alliance of prominent Victorians, including Environment Minister John Thwaites, fishing guru Rex Hunt, the RSL and business and community leaders have called for the cruel hunt to be stopped.
Conservationists are worried that the whale population in the Antarctic is falling.
Whales are already endangered because for decades they were aggressively harvested and now their staple diet, krill, is under threat, possibly from climate change.
The Howard Government has been asked to block the annual kill through the Federal Court. But it would face a major diplomatic row if the court imposed an injunction stopping the trawlers.
Japan defiantly insists on its whaling rights, and freely provides information about the number of whales it kills in Australian waters.
Mr Thwaites said the State Government did not support any illegal exploitation of whales, while Melbourne Lord Mayor John So supports a Federal Court injunction.
"I would want to see the whales protected," Mr So said.
RSL Victorian president Major-General David McLachlan slammed the blatant disregard of Australia's whale sanctuary.
"We believe it is an unnecessary action. It's a matter that has got to be resolved in the international courts," he said.
"If 'scientific reasons' is just a screen for a commercial activity, it's totally wrong."
Australia opposes commercial whaling - banned since 1986 - and wants an end to the so-called "scientific whaling".
But it is conducting its campaign along diplomatic, not legal channels.
Japanese trawlers from fishing company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha will use high-powered harpoons with explosive grenades to slaughter the whales.
It means an agonising death, with many whales drowning in their own blood.
Factory ships then dismember the whales.
The ships post signs saying: "We're collecting tissue samples."
Japan will not reveal how long it takes the whales to die, but the Humane Society International estimates it could take more than four minutes.
Japan does not recognise Australia's whale sanctuary, established in waters off Antarctica in 2000. Japan has killed an estimated 400 whales in the sanctuary since it was declared.
It is estimated there were more than three million minke whales in the southern oceans before whaling, but now it is believed the population is about 700,000.
Sunday Herald Sun