Interesting news in from Japan (where as you'll remember, the government recently took the bizarre step of prosecuting two of our activists for exposing corruption between their own Fisheries Agency and whaling company Kyodo Senpaku).
Whale expert and former councellor for the Institute of Cetacean Research (in whose name the commercial whaling operation which masquerades as 'scientific reseach' is officially conducted), Shigeko Misaki, has written a blistering letter to the Japan Times demanding that all whaling in the Southern Ocean should be ended:
Japan Times, 3 August 2008
Having co-authored "The History and Science of Whales," advised the Japan Whaling Association, and served as counselor at the Institute of Cetacean Research for a number of years, I now find myself retired and severed from much of the controversy over whaling. However, Internet reports of whaling "progress" thus far persuade me that this season is the most opportune time for Japan's government to decide to withdraw all whaling operations from the Southern Ocean.
I say this because I believe that pelagic whaling does not contribute to the prevention of global warming. Just think of the expensive fuel the Japanese whaling fleet consumes en route to the Antarctic, plus that consumed by the freezing ship for transporting the byproducts of whaling to the Japanese market. Over the years, Japanese research ships have made a mess on the ocean when fire broke out due to poor management of the vessel. Add to that the mess made by animal rights groups eager to attack the whaling ships.
Whaling as a business hardly justifies the environmental costs. Talk about "food mileage" has not touched on whale meat. Why doesn't the government consider it more seriously, and cease whaling in any form, except small-scale coastal whaling?
Shigeko Misaki
Wow - this is a long-term member of the Japanese whaling establishment speaking, remember. And Japanese bureacrats (like their counterparts around the world) are not noted for speaking out against mainstream government policies in this manner. Admittedly Ms Misaki is now retired and so able to express her opinion without fear of losing her job, but it must surely go against the grain for her to demand the closure of an industry she spent a good chunk of her life defending and supporting.
Interestingly her main attack is focused on climate change grounds rather than criticising the 'scientific' logic behind Southern Ocean whaling, but she may well have calculated that the government would be willing to abandon its whaling programme as long as it can claim to have done so for climate change reasons, rather than being forced to by pressure from environmental groups such as ourselves.
Either way, an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary would be good news for the whales, and for Japan.
