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Brendan Nicholson, Canberra, and Andrew DarbyDecember 22, 2007
A DETERMINED Australian-led campaign against hunting humpback whales has succeeded — for now — with Japan abandoning plans to kill them in the Antarctic this year.
Japan has removed a quota of 50 humpbacks from its "scientific research" whaling list because of concerns about its relations with Australia, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night.
But Japan will proceed with a cull of almost 1000 other whales, mostly of the smaller minke species. The humpback hunt will be suspended for one or two years.
Mitsuo Sakaba said Japan's relationship with Australia was too important to be jeopardised by any single issue or dispute.
"'We are aware that in Australia and other countries there is strong objection to our scientific research whaling," Mr Sakaba said. "It is clear that a very significant portion of the Australian people, from young children to senior citizens, hold whales, especially humpback whales, very dear."
Mr Sakaba said it should be emphasised that Japan's scientific research whaling program was not illegal.
Another Japanese Government spokesman, Nobutaka Machimura, denied that Tokyo had succumbed to Australian pressure, saying the decision not to kill humpbacks was also made after consultations with the International Whaling Commission.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Japan's decision was welcome, but nonetheless there was no good reason why Japan should continue any sort of whaling.
The Government believed there was "no credible justification for the hunting of any whales and will vigorously pursue its efforts, announced earlier this week, to see an end to whaling by Japan", the spokesman said.
The proposed killing of humpbacks, which migrate south along the Australian coast, would have been the first sanctioned hunt of humpbacks in the Antarctic since they were protected by the International Whaling Commission in 1963.
Japan included them as part of a quota of 1035 whales it set using an IWC loophole that allows any member nation to set its own scientific kill target.
The Federal Government announced a new campaign against scientific whaling this week. It will include surveillance of the Japanese fleet to gather evidence for an international legal case, and increasing diplomatic pressure on Japan.
Australia's ambassador in Tokyo, Murray McLean, was due to present the Japanese Government with Canberra's formal protest last night.
Darren Kindleysides, Asia Pacific campaigner for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the group would see Japan's decision as an "admission of wrongdoing".
"Certainly, this is a climbdown," he said. "But clearly this year is still the biggest year ever of Japanese research whaling, with up to 935 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales still in Japan's sights."
Greenpeace said it was encouraging that the decision had been taken away from the Fisheries Agency and handled by the Japanese Government.
Greenpeace and the militant splinter group Sea Shepherd have each sent a ship to Antarctic waters to try to disrupt Japan's whaling. Its whaling ships left Japanese ports for the Antarctic last month.
Greenpeace's ship Esperanza left Auckland this week, but Sea Shepherd's ship, the Steve Irwin, is returning to Australia for mechanical repairs after blowing a piston in one of its twin engines. The ship is likely to dock in Melbourne around Christmas.
A DETERMINED Australian-led campaign against hunting humpback whales has succeeded — for now — with Japan abandoning plans to kill them in the Antarctic this year.
Japan has removed a quota of 50 humpbacks from its "scientific research" whaling list because of concerns about its relations with Australia, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night.
But Japan will proceed with a cull of almost 1000 other whales, mostly of the smaller minke species. The humpback hunt will be suspended for one or two years.
Mitsuo Sakaba said Japan's relationship with Australia was too important to be jeopardised by any single issue or dispute.
"'We are aware that in Australia and other countries there is strong objection to our scientific research whaling," Mr Sakaba said. "It is clear that a very significant portion of the Australian people, from young children to senior citizens, hold whales, especially humpback whales, very dear."
Mr Sakaba said it should be emphasised that Japan's scientific research whaling program was not illegal.
Another Japanese Government spokesman, Nobutaka Machimura, denied that Tokyo had succumbed to Australian pressure, saying the decision not to kill humpbacks was also made after consultations with the International Whaling Commission.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Japan's decision was welcome, but nonetheless there was no good reason why Japan should continue any sort of whaling.
The Government believed there was "no credible justification for the hunting of any whales and will vigorously pursue its efforts, announced earlier this week, to see an end to whaling by Japan", the spokesman said.
The proposed killing of humpbacks, which migrate south along the Australian coast, would have been the first sanctioned hunt of humpbacks in the Antarctic since they were protected by the International Whaling Commission in 1963.
Japan included them as part of a quota of 1035 whales it set using an IWC loophole that allows any member nation to set its own scientific kill target.
The Federal Government announced a new campaign against scientific whaling this week. It will include surveillance of the Japanese fleet to gather evidence for an international legal case, and increasing diplomatic pressure on Japan.
Australia's ambassador in Tokyo, Murray McLean, was due to present the Japanese Government with Canberra's formal protest last night.
Darren Kindleysides, Asia Pacific campaigner for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the group would see Japan's decision as an "admission of wrongdoing".
"Certainly, this is a climbdown," he said. "But clearly this year is still the biggest year ever of Japanese research whaling, with up to 935 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales still in Japan's sights."
Greenpeace said it was encouraging that the decision had been taken away from the Fisheries Agency and handled by the Japanese Government.
Greenpeace and the militant splinter group Sea Shepherd have each sent a ship to Antarctic waters to try to disrupt Japan's whaling. Its whaling ships left Japanese ports for the Antarctic last month.
Greenpeace's ship Esperanza left Auckland this week, but Sea Shepherd's ship, the Steve Irwin, is returning to Australia for mechanical repairs after blowing a piston in one of its twin engines. The ship is likely to dock in Melbourne around Christmas.
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