Japan Spending Millions to Buy Support for Whaling

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http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-16-05.html

 

Japan Spending Millions to Buy Support for Whaling

 

MELBOURNE, Australia, January 16, 2002 (ENS) - The

Japanese government has spent over $US320 million

since 1987 on buying a return to commercial whaling,

said Greenpeace today after its expedition ship MV

Arctic Sunrise docked in Melbourne.

 

After six weeks pursuing the Japanese whaling fleet in

Antarctica, Greenpeace activists on board the Arctic

Sunrise expressed frustration that despite all their

efforts money may be the deciding factor in the future

of the whales.

 

Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru and Greenpeace

inflatable square off in the Southern Ocean, December

14, 2001 (Photos courtesy Greenpeace)

 

" The Japanese government is determined to restart

whaling by any means. It's buying votes and ultimately

it's buying the world's whales, " said Greenpeace

campaigner Sarah Duthie at a press conference on the

Arctic Sunrise.

 

The group said if governments that support whale

conservation do not move right now to stop vote buying

in the International Whaling Commission, Japan could

overturn the international moratorium on commercial

whaling, which has been in place since 1986.

 

A research document released by the environmental

group today showed new figures on how much money is

changing hands to overturn the ban.

 

In 2001, over $US47 million was spent buying the votes

of six countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica,

Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent

and the Grenadines.

 

This money is described by the Fisheries Agency of

Japan as fisheries aid grants. But Lester Bird, Prime

Minister of Antigua and Barbuda admitted that the

money was given to his country in return for voting

with Japan on whaling issues at the International

Whaling Commission (IWC).

 

The Caribbean News Agency quoted Prime Minister Bird

saying, " So long as the whales are not an endangered

species, I don't see any reason why if we are able to

support the Japanese, and the quid pro quo is that

they are going to give us some assistance, I am not

going to be a hypocrite; that is part of why we do

so. "

 

Japan has also publicly admitted that it is buying

votes, but no one has previously added up the cost to

Japanese taxpayers.

 

Japanese whalers turn water cannon on Greenpeace

protesters from the Arctic Sunrise, December 16, 2001.

 

According to Japanese Official Development Assistance

figures and publications from the Japanese Institute

of Cetacean Research, fisheries aid grants exceeds

$210 million while subsidies for research whaling

amount to $113 million - over $US320 million dollars.

Greenpeace reports that Japanese government

departments have hired international lobbyists and a

PR firm as well as paying for advertising campaigns.

 

" While the Japanese economy is failing, our Government

is wasting billions of yen to force the world to

restart whaling, " said Japanese campaigner Yuko Hirono

on board the Arctic Sunrise. " Japan should not be

using such extreme methods to get what it wants. Every

member of the Japanese public pays for this and they

don't even realize it. "

 

Japan gets around the commercial whaling ban by taking

a self-imposed quota of 440 minke whales in the

Southern Ocean under the guise of scientific research

and a similar number in the North Pacific. During the

past two years, Japan has taken sperm and Bryde's

whales as well as the more numerous minkes, raising

protests from the United States and other nations that

are attempting to conserve whales.

 

A coalition of anti-whaling South Pacific nations is

forming around Australia and New Zealand to challenge

the Japanese led whaling coalition at the upcoming IWC

annual meeting in Shimonoseki, Japan, in May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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