U.S. urges Japan to halt Antarctic 'research' whaling

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20011111b5.htm

 

U.S. urges Japan to halt Antarctic 'research' whaling

 

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The United States has urged Japan

to halt preparations to catch minke whales in the

Antarctic Ocean for " research " purposes, a State

Department spokesman said Friday.

 

" The United States is opposed to the lethal taking of

whales for research purposes and is concerned about

the population size of Southern Hemisphere minke

whales, " spokesman Richard Boucher said in a

statement.

 

Washington " reiterates its strong support of the

international community's call on Japan to cease its

lethal research program in the Antarctic, especially

in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, " he said, referring

to a resolution adopted by the International Whaling

Commission at its 2001 annual meeting.

 

Boucher said the resolution stated that the Southern

Hemisphere minke whale population may have suffered a

" precipitous decline " over the past decade in urging

Tokyo to halt the whaling at least until the IWC

Scientific Committee has completed its report on the

impact of Japan's Antarctic whaling program.

 

On Tuesday, a Japanese whaling fleet left Shimonoseki

port in Yamaguchi Prefecture for six months, during

which it plans to catch some 400 minke whales in the

Antarctic.

 

The fleet of five vessels, belonging to the

government's Institute of Cetacean Research, will

collect data such as the ages of caught whales and the

numbers and locations of whales found by visual

observation.

 

The data will be presented to the IWC.

 

Based on IWC rules, Japan annually conducts what it

calls research whaling in the Antarctic and the

northwest Pacific.

 

International environmentalist groups have called for

an end to Japanese whaling, saying its real purpose is

to sell the whales commercially for consumption.

 

Greenpeace members demonstrated against the latest

Japanese whaling in 17 countries Tuesday, but

demonstrations were not staged in Shimonoseki.

 

The city will be the venue of the IWC's annual meeting

next spring.

 

The Japan Times: Nov. 11, 2001

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