Whaling ship: A whale dies after being harpooned

Japan's 'research' whaling fleet set sail to the Antarctic on 13/11/04 to kill more whales in the name of 'science'. 2004 will be the 18th year of Japanese whale hunting, thinly disguised as 'scientific research'. In that time over 6,000 Antarctic Minke whales have been killed.

It has been claimed that the research is for the International Whaling Committee (IWC) but the IWC has said they do not need the data and has repeatedly asked that the programme be stopped. The waters surrounding the Antarctic were made into a whale sanctuary in 1994.

All the meat caught from Minke whales will be sold on the open market in Japan, yet the market for whale meat in Japan is dying. Only last week supermarket giant Tesco decided to remove whale meat from its Japanese stores 'due to lack of customer demand'.

The government of Japan has sanctioned whaling in defiance of an international convention for almost two decades now. The whaling fleet's departure will be the last of an 18 year programme. However, government officials have already announced that they intend to renew the hunt next year, without waiting for a scientific review of the current programme.

"The Japanese government should stop calling for the resumption of commercial whaling and should stop calling this expedition 'research'," said Willie Mackenzie Greenpeace Oceans campaigner. "The data the Japanese government is collecting is not requested by the IWC. If they truly want to conduct research they can do so without killing thousands of whales".

Mackenzie continued: "World-wide, whales face a huge range of threats to their survival because of humanity; pollution, climate change and entanglement in nets. Commercial hunting under the guise of science is the one threat to whale populations that we can end immediately."

Surveys over the last decade have found less than half the number of Antarctic Minke whales estimated in previous studies The IWC has withdrawn its population estimate for the species and is trying to develop a new one.

A legitimate scientific study published last week (1) found that krill has declined by 80 percent since the 1970s in some waters within the Antarctic whale sanctuary threatening the food supply of whales as well as seals and penguins.

Further information
For more information please contact Greenpeace Press Office on 020 7865 8255.

NOTES: (1) Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean: Atkinson, Siegel, Pakhomov & Rothery - "Nature" 4th Nov 2004.

Minke whale and fulmar in the English Channel

Iceland moved toward ending whaling yesterday with the announcement it was scaling its 'scientific' hunt back from 250 whales a year to 25.

"This is a major step in the right direction," said Willie Mackenzie from Greenpeace UK "the government of Iceland should realise that whales are worth more to them alive than dead, and cancel the rest of the hunt."

The Icelandic tourist association and whale watching operators have made it clear to their government that a resumption of whaling would seriously damage the country's reputation and result in a decrease in tourist numbers. Tourism has become one of the major sources of income in Iceland in recent years and whale watching attracts around 72,000 tourists yearly and is worth more than $14.6 million USD a year to the Icelandic economy.

The market for whale meat in Iceland is small and decreasing due to both changed eating habits and revelations about the level of environmental toxins in whale products. This is evidenced by the fact that Iceland still has over half the whale meat from last year's hunt in cold storage, with no future market in sight.

"There is no scientific basis for killing whales to study them," said Willie Mackenzie, "To call this science is an insult to the thousands of scientists who study whales without killing them."

He added, "Whales are worth more to Iceland alive than dead. Whaling brings Iceland no money, answers no scientific questions and damages its tourism industry. It should stop now."

Further information
For more information contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255