V for victory? A blue whale anticipates major cuts in Japan's whaling programme.
Many times during this conference I've heard bluefin tuna likened to blue whales - a comparison which has already been expressed eloquently by Charles Clover.
There are several stunning similarities - they are both the biggest of their kind, hydrodynamic giants, amazingly adapted for life in the ocean. Most alarmingly though, both have been driven to the brink of extinction by overexploitation by a species remarkably ill-adapted for life in the ocean: humans.
Commercial whaling in the last century reduced blue whales to an estimated 1% of their former numbers, as they were the lucrative prime target for whalers on the high seas. Now bluefin tuna faces a similar fate. And those who have had the misfortune to engage with both organisations are quick to compare the inadequacies of ICCAT with the way the International Whaling Commission (IWC) behaved in decades past.
The IWC also had to be dragged into the realisation that change needed to happen, with the eventual result that commercial whaling was banned in 1986. And although this ruling has since been flouted, most notably by the Japanese government, commercial whaling still remains a much more restricted activity.
Of course Greenpeace still campaigns to end it forever, and we've been working hard in Japan and other parts of the world to try and bring about effective changes that will make this happen. So it's exciting to hear some good news today from Japan.
The new government of Japan is currently reviewing the nation's expenditure. So far, so dull. But the Japanese whaling fleet is heavily subsidised, and lots of taxpayers' money is spent promoting whalemeat to an uninterested Japanese public and cajoling other countries to back Japan's position at the IWC.
But now the committee reviewing government spending has recommended that the fund which gives loans to subsidise the 'scientific' whaling programme revokes almost all of that funding.
What would this mean? Well the whaling programme depends on subsidies. So it probably can't exist without them. At the very least, if these cuts in funding do happen, the scale of the whaling operation will be severely limited.
Greenpeace has been saying for years that this was a pointless waste of money, that could be better spent by the Japanese taxpayers. It looks like the Spending Review Committee agree with us.
This news brings fresh hope for an end to the farce of whaling in the Southern Ocean, and is a great boost for our team in Japan, two of whom (Junichi & Toru) are still facing a politically-motivated trial for their part in exposing embezzlement within the whaling programme. So, fingers crossed, and we will see what happens.
But as a parting shot – here’s another suggestion to the Spending Review Committee – why not recommend that the government saves even more money by immediately dropping the charges against Junichi and Toru too?
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