The fact that anti-whaling nations and non-governmental organizations object
to this on grounds of cultural preference is a fact. They do not have legal
grounds to do so.
Similarly, the protest industry voices will tell you that Japan’s decisions
to ignore the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and to conduct their own Scientific
Whaling Programs, are both "illegal". This is not true.
Japan was within her rights to take a reservation on the occasion of the vote
that created the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, and is now legally conducting
scientific whaling, both there and in the North Pacific, under the provisions of
Article VIII of the ICRW.
It is true that the IWC as a body has repeatedly issued non-binding
resolutions condemning Japan for that country’s decisions. This does not mean
that Japan is acting illegally. The rights of Japan are clearly upheld by the
ICRW.
Some anti-whaling nations, such as New Zealand and Australia, claim that
Japan’s research is not being conducted for the purpose of gaining information
of scientific significance. These nations refer to Japan’s behavior as "So
Called Scientific Research".
| It should be noted that the
IWC Scientific Committee has applauded Japan’s research programs as having
contributed substantially to the data necessary for the management of Minke
whales. |
The more recent Japanese programs that include scientific harvest of Minke,
Sperm and Brydes whales in the North Pacific around Japan, have also not been
condemned by the IWC Scientific Committee. They are under normal consideration
by that Committee and have been accepted as Japan’s right to explore the role
of these animals in their ecosystem. The Scientific Committee has noted that the
level of this harvest is having no significant impact on these whale stocks,
which are large in those areas.
Members of the press may be impressed by the claims of certain groups such as
Greenpeace, HSUS, AWI, and IFAW, that the legal scientific research programs
conducted by Japan are actually a "cover-up for commercial whaling" or
"commercial whaling in disguise".
|
Check out the exact wording of the ICRW. The truth is that the ICRW requires
that all by-products of scientific whaling shall be utilized according to the
direction of the authorizing government.
|
That direction is not to waste the meat and blubber of these animals, and
accordingly, it is sold in Japanese wholesale food markets and the proceeds are
put back into support of the research programs.
If the hundreds of tons of meat were thrown overboard and turned into
pollution, would anyone be justifiably pleased?
Members of the press, trying to sort out fact from fiction at the IWC, might
wish to check out the track record of certain organizations before trusting them
in whale issue matters.
