SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
whale sanctuary
Sea Shepherd Blasts Japan's Plan to Slaughter 4,000 Minke Whales
'If Sea Shepherd comes across criminal activity, then our history speaks for itself. We will, as always, directly intervene to prevent that crime from taking place'
Nov 29, 2015
Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd warned Japan against resuming "research" whaling in the Antarctic in defiance of an International Court of Justice ruling that it cease the practice and called on the Australian government to intervene.
After a decade of activism by Sea Shepherd and other groups, Japan was forced to abandon its 2014-15 Southern Ocean hunt after the International Court of Justice said the annual expedition was a commercial activity masquerading as research. But on Saturday, Japanese media reported it would start again soon, despite global regulators calling for more evidence that the expeditions have a scientific purpose. Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun and other media said the Japanese fleet could depart possibly by the end of December.
Despite international disapproval, Japan has hunted whales in the Southern Ocean under an exemption in the global whaling moratorium that allows for lethal research.
Japan's fisheries agency has told the International Whaling Commission that it would resume whaling in the Antarctic Ocean by killing 333 minke whales this season and kill almost 4,000 minke whales in the Antarctic over the next 12 years.
CEO of Sea Shepherd Global, Captain Alex Cornelissen, has condemned Japan's plans to return to the Southern Ocean to slaughter whales.
"The pristine waters of the Southern Ocean are once again under threat from poachers," said Cornelissen. "We would like to remind the Japanese government that the whales of the Southern Ocean are protected by international law, by Australian law and by Sea Shepherd. As such, any violation of the sanctity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary or the Australian Whale Sanctuary will be regarded as a criminal act."
On Saturday, the Japanese Fisheries Agency officially notified the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that it is readying its whaling fleet's harpoons to return to Antarctica's waters.
Sea Shepherd has again called on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to intervene to ensure that the whale poachers do not depart from Japan and prevent whale poachers from departing
"Prime Minister Turnbull has a duty to ensure that the dire matter of Japan's whale poaching operations is at the top of the agenda when he visits Japan in December," said Sea Shepherd Australia Managing Director Jeff Hansen. "It must be made clear to Japan that whaling in the Australian Whale Sanctuary is a criminal act and that Australia has the international responsibility to intervene and arrest criminals operating in our waters," he continued.
On March 31, 2014, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Japan's whaling program to be commercial and illegal and ordered that it immediately cease.
Initially, Japan's government said it would abide by the ruling. However, within months, Japan had unveiled its plans for a new whaling program titled NEWREP-A, under which a further 4,000 protected Minke whales would be slaughtered over a 12-year period.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, currently docked in Melbourne, Australia, has been undergoing preparations for the organization's second campaign to target illegal toothfish operators in the Southern Ocean.
"Sea Shepherd is an anti-poaching organization. We are ready to find, document, report on, and, where possible, intervene against poaching operations that threaten the precious balance of life in the Southern Ocean; whatever form those poachers might take, whatever life they threaten," said Cornelissen. "If Sea Shepherd comes across criminal activity, then our history speaks for itself. We will, as always, directly intervene to prevent that crime from taking place," he concluded.
In April 2013, Japan announced its whaling haul from the Southern Ocean was at a record low because of "unforgivable sabotage" by activists from Sea Shepherd.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sea Shepherd Captures Video of 'Illegal' Japanese Whale Slaughter
Conservationists chase Japanese whaling fleet from protected Southern Ocean
Jan 06, 2014
Anti-whaling activists the Sea Shepherd published video evidence Sunday of Japanese whalers slaughtering protected whale species in marine preservation in the Southern Ocean.
The conservation group obtained footage of three dead minke whales, a protected species, on the deck of the Nisshin Maru, and a fourth whale, also believed to be a minke, being butchered on the ship, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Crew members are seen mopping up large pools of blood on the deck.
After documenting the slaughter, the three-vessel Sea Shepherd fleet--which includes the Steve Irwin, the Bob Barker and the Sam Simon--drove the five Japanese whaling ships from the New Zealand maritime sanctuary in the first encounter of the current whaling season.
The Guardian reports:
The whaling boats were operating within the whale sanctuary in New Zealand's territorial waters, located in the Ross Sea in Antarctica, according to Sea Shepherd.
Conservationists argue that Australia should enforce its own Antarctic territory by cracking down on whaling, which has been deemed unlawful by the federal court. However, only four nations - which do not include Japan - recognise Australia's claim to Antarctic land and sea territory.
Though condemning the actions of the Japanese whalers, neighboring governments have thus far done little to deter the practice.
According to the Sea Shepherd crew, "There was no sign of either the HMNZS Otago, which patrols New Zealand's southern waters during the whaling season or an Australian government aircraft, which was proposed by the country's environment minister, Greg Hunt, instead of the customs vessel he promised before the election."
"The Australian government have effectively said to its fleet, 'Don't intervene on this crime.' That's the problem here," said Bob Brown, Sea Shepherd Australia chairman. "They're Australian whales, effectively, and they've been slaughtered illegally."
"The pictures speak for themselves. It's a bloody outrage," he added.
Though agreeing on the Japanese operation is "pointless and offensive," New Zealand foreign affairs minister Murray McCully added that the area of the slaughter constituted "international waters and not within New Zealand's maritime jurisdiction."
Following a season of intense confrontation during which the whalers reportedly rammed into Sea Shepherd vessels and fired both water cannons and stun grenades, this initial episode ended without violent confrontation.
"We are keeping on their tail and they aren't whaling at the moment so we're happy about that, at least," Jeff Hansen, the managing director of Sea Shepherd Australia, told Guardian Australia. "There is no need for confrontation; the number one priority is the protection of whales."
Below is the video evidence obtained by the Sea Shepherd crew. The footage contains both graphic and disturbing images.
Exposed: Japan kills whales inside sanctuary - Sea Shepherd videoEnvironmental campaign group Sea Shepherd says it has video of the Japanese fleet killing protected whales inside an ...
Keep ReadingShow Less
US Judge Labels Anti-Whaling Activists 'Pirates'
Ruling allows the Japanese whalers to pursue legal action against Sea Shepherd’s activism
Feb 27, 2013
A US federal court of appeals on Monday has branded the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd as "pirates," ordering them to cease interfering with Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean and clearing the way for whalers to pursue legal actions against the animal rights group.
"You don't need a peg leg or an eye patch" to be a pirate, declared Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals, as he overturned a lower court's ruling against Japanese whalers, adding, "No matter how high-minded you believe your purpose to be."
Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson responded to the ruling, saying it was "entirely devoid of real evidence."
"We are called many names," he said, "but the real question is whether Sea Shepherd is breaking the law." Watson emphasized that the Sea Shepherd crew has not "nor do they intend to injure Japanese whalers."
"[The judge] didn't mention anything in there about the fact that the Japanese have destroyed one of our ships (the Ady Gil in 2010), they've thrown concussion grenades at us, hit us with water cannons and laser beams," he told AAP.
Watson added that the group has "fully complied with the injunction" and that the US Court has no jurisdiction over Australians and other non-U.S. citizens currently manning the fleet on internationally flagged vessels operating in Australian waters.
The Shepherds are trying to prevent the slaughter of whales off the coast of Antarctica, an area which the International Whaling Commission considers a sanctuary for the large mammals. Australia is currently taking legal action against the country for its whaling activities.
According to AFP, the ruling allows the Japanese whalers to pursue legal action in the US against the Sea Shepherd's activism.
Upholding a false designation that excuses the illegal hunting practice, Kozinski declared the plaintiffs "Japanese researchers who hunt whales in the Southern Ocean."
Previously, Japanese whalers, under the guise of the Institute of Cetacean Research, filed legal action in the US to prevent the Sea Shepherds from interfering with their hunts. District Judge Richard Jones sided with the activists, but the 9th Circuit's three-judge panel reversed that decision on Monday.
The ruling comes weeks into a high-sea standoff between the Japanse whaling vessel, the Nisshin Maru, and the Sea Shepherd's fleet--the Bob Barker and the Steve Irwin--during which, the Shepherds report, the whalers have rammed both their vessels and have been using water cannons and stun grenades against them, even going to so far as to threaten them with a military icebreaker.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular