Japan To Resume Whaling — Intends To Butcher 4,000 Minke Whales In The Antarctic Over The Next 12 Years
Japan has decided to resume whaling. Though the country claims the barbaric act of butchering minke whales is for science, global regulators haven’t received concrete evidence that the hunting expeditions have a purely scientific agenda.
Japan will resume whaling in the Antarctic. Japanese ships are expected to head out to the region to hunt minke whales for “research” purposes as soon as December. The move comes despite global regulators asking for more evidence to substantiate Japan’s claims that the whaling expeditions have a scientific purpose. Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has issued a warning to Japan against the proposed whaling expedition and has urged the Australian government to intervene, reported Yahoo. Speaking about the practice, Sea Shepherd chief executive Alex Cornelissen said as follows.
“The pristine waters of the Southern Ocean are once again under threat from poachers. We would like to remind the Japanese government that the whales of the Southern Ocean are protected by international law, by Australian law and by Sea Shepherd. As such, any violation of the sanctity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary or the Australian Whale Sanctuary will be regarded as a criminal act.”
The group had fought the inhuman practice of killing whales by Japan for more than decade, before the government was forced to call off last year’s whaling expedition. But it wasn’t just Sea Shepherd’s persistence. The United Nations’ top legal body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said the annual expedition was nothing but a thin veil of deception to conceal the real intention.
It is common knowledge that whale meat derived from whaling is a lucrative commercial item in Japan, where whale meat is a rare and expensive delicacy. However, Japan is trying to masquerade a commercial hunt as “research,” said ICJ. In fact, the court had ruled in 2014 that the Japanese whaling program was not for scientific purposes and ordered its cessation.
Notwithstanding the ruling as well as strong international disapproval of the practice, Japan has skirted the rules and hunted whales in the Southern Ocean under an exemption in the global whaling moratorium. Killing of minke whales in limited number is permitted for “lethal research.” Astonishingly, it is an open secret that the meat derived from whaling is quickly processed into food and sold in shops and restaurants. Japan has always insisted that though there is insufficient data about the population size of the minke whales, it is “clearly in the hundreds of thousands,” and hence big enough to allow for sustainable whaling every year.
Whale meat, a rare delicacy now, can range from $25 to $200 depending on the type of meat the buyer is interested in. Once a cheaper substitute for beef, whale meat is now one of the costliest meats, affordable only to a few affluent Japanese. Owing to the scarcity of the whale meat, prices keep escalating.
The Japanese fleet that intends to butcher the whales is expected to depart to the Antarctic Ocean by the end of this year. Though Australia does frown upon the practice, it will have to use some tactful diplomacy to curb the whaling expedition.
Despite the ICJ calling Japan’s whaling operation “a commercial hunt masquerading as science to skirt the international moratorium,” the country’s fisheries are about to resume killing the whales allegedly for research purposes.
[Photo by Glenn Lockitch, Sankei/Getty Images]
