According to the Institute for Cetacean Research, in Japan, 333 minke whales have been killed, and the worst part is, the killings are being attributed to ‘scientific research’.
Whaling in Japan is nothing new and has been carried on for ages, for commercial and food purposes. Â But the recent incident has stirred people.
The fleet killed 333 minke whales including over 200 pregnant females.Â
And all this in an apparent violation of a rule passed by the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial body of the United Nations.
Japan Fisheries Agency has said that 103 males and 230 females were caught during the fleet’s summer expedition to the Antarctic Ocean and this whaling activity was restricted only for ‘research’ purposes. They have also added, “The number of pregnant females is consistent with previous hunts, indicating that the breeding situation of minke whales in the Antarctic is healthy”.
Although commercial whaling in Japan was banned in 1986, killing whales for research was allowed. However, the whales killed in the past week is just commercial whaling in disguise in the name of scientific research.
The International Court of Justice, in 2014, had ruled out a complete halt in whaling in Japan:
“The court said the research program had generated only two peer-reviewed papers that together refer to nine whales.”
“In light of the fact that [Japan’s program] has been going on since 2005 and has involved the killing of about 3,600 minke whales, the scientific output to date appears limited.”
“By a 12-4 vote, the court based in The Hague decided Japan must ‘revoke any extant authorization, permit or license granted in relation to’ its whaling program, ‘and refrain from granting any further permits’ related to it.”
“Japanese officials have said the whaling program, called JARPA II, is for research on whales’ age, sexual maturity and pregnancy rates, according to court documents. Some elements of the program were slated to go on for six to 12 years.
“But the court noted that an expert who was called on to testify … said Japan’s program ‘operates in complete isolation’ from other Japanese and international research efforts into Antarctica’s wildlife.”
Japan is still denying that the recent killing of the whales was done for anything apart from scientific purposes and also denies violating any law.
Japan says the latest whaling expedition was carried out under a new research plan that the ICJ has to rule out.
The news has obviously outraged environmental activists and also caused a political fiasco in Australia and some claim that a few pf the whales were killed illegally in the Australian Whale Sanctuary, and the government did nothing to stop it.
Australia’s environment minister, Greg Hunt said in a statement that the government was absolutely against whaling “clearly, absolutely and categorically.”
News Source: National Geographic
Cover Image Sources 1 & 2