(03-12-10) While antiwhaling activists prepared another round of the “Whale Wars” with its new interceptor boat, Japanese fleet delayed its departure by financial pressures and the drop in the domestic demand for whale meat.

    Financial pressures, clashes with vessels from the antiwhaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a group of US-based activists, and a drop in the domestic demand for whale meat all appear to be contributing to the late departure of the fleet. While, Sea Shepherd’s Scott West says his organization plans to “sink the fleet economically.”

    Another problem is that the refueling ship that the whaling fleet used until last winter has been retired, and the fleet appears to be having difficulties finding a replacement –essential for the months-long expedition– as companies are loath to send vessels into the whaling arena, a rather risky environment for boats given activist opposition.

    “Without a refueling ship, we also expect the fleet to come back early because it is also used as a transport ship for bringing the meat back to Japan during the hunt,” says Wakao Hanaoka of Greenpeace Japan.

    Japan’s so-called scientific whaling program is heavily subsidized by the government but it also depends on selling whale meat for revenue, something it is finding increasingly difficult.

    The program receives at least 1.2 billion yen ($14 million) a year in public money, but the Democratic Party of Japan was elected last year on a platform of slashing wasteful spending – turning up the pressure on a program with escalating debt.

RECORD STOCKPILES OF UNSOLD WHALE MEAT

    “There are record stockpiles of unsold whale meat in storage, over 5,000 tons,” points out Jun Morikawa, of Rakuno Gakuen University in Hokkaido, and author of “Whaling in Japan: Power, Politics and Diplomacy.”

    “My generation ate it in the post-war period as a kind of substitute meat,” says Prof. Morikawa, “but young people have never had a culture of eating whale meat outside those local areas that try to promote it as a local food tradition.”

    The tough economic times are likely also contributing to the lack of demand for what has now become something of an expensive delicacy, suggests Mr. Hanaoka.

    Still, Japan maintains that its annual whaling is sustainable and necessary for the scientific study and management of whale populations. Even as the fleet is sitting in Innoshima port, about 500 miles southwest of Tokyo.

    Officials from 27 pro-whaling countries were meeting in nearby Shimonoseki, another whaling port. A two-day meeting –convened by Japan– is discussing future tactics in the light of increased international opposition at the International Whaling Commission.

    Many of the attending countries are from regions such as Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean that have no direct interest in whaling. Japan has been criticized for buying their support through paying their IWC dues and providing a range of perks for attending delegates from those countries.

NEW SHIP TO HARASS JAPANESE WHALERS

    Meanwhile, the Sea Shepherd group –which relies on individual donor – is gaining support worldwide. Funds produced a new ship that it will use to harass the Japanese whalers Mr. West said Sea Shepherd was hoping to avoid a repeat of the type of collision that occurred last year between the Shonan Maru 2 ship and the Ady Gill, which led to the sinking of the Sea Shepherd vessel.

    Ady Gill’s captain denied that he had got his ship deliberately rammed by the Japanese ship, but called captain Pete Bethune – who has since fallen out with Sea Shepherd, “negligent for bringing all of his crew on to the deck like they were on a Sunday picnic when they were in a dangerous situation.”

    The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will turn Gojira loose on the Japanese whaling fleet this season in an effort to step up its Southern Ocean harassment campaign. The swift and ominous-looking interceptor vessel has the moniker Gojira and was named after the ferocious monster in the legendary Japanese film, known in English as Godzilla.

    The 115-foot boat launched last week in Fremantle, Australia, and has joined the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker in Hobart. Later this week the three boats will begin the journey to Antarctic waters, where their crews will await the arrival of the Japanese whaling fleet.

JAPANESE SHIPS WILL CARRY ARMED SOLDIERS

    Japan also will reportedly step things up. For the first time in three years the whaling ships will carry armed members of the Japan Coast Guard to help prevent sabotage by the activists, according to the Japan Times.

    These seasonal confrontations have become increasingly tense, with high-seas collisions underscoring the danger and controversial nature of some of the methods used by Sea Shepherd, which has been criticized for risking human lives in its effort to save minke whales, which are not an endangered species.

    Last season Sea Shepherd scuttled its interceptor vessel, the Ady Gil, after claiming it had been rammed and irreparably damaged by the crew of a Japanese vessel. New Zealand investigators found both crews to have been at fault.

    Japan annually targets about 900 whales -- mostly minkes but also a handful of endangered fin whales -- during a three-month Southern Ocean season that generally begins in early December.

    Japan gets around an International Whaling Commission ban against commercial whaling by using a "research" loophole and designating the hunts --long considered an important part of Japanese culture and tradition-- as scientific missions.

    However, pressure to persuade Japan to curtail its effort has been mounting. The IWC last spring submitted a proposal calling for Japan to reduce its quota to about 200 over a 10-year period. Australia has been trying to use an international court to halt whaling in the Antarctic, where the slaughter of whales occurs within a designated sanctuary.

Text: Guadalupe Romero
Source: Sea Shepherd, Japan Times and Greenpeace