Japanese public does not support whaling according to poll

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Majority of Japanese Public Does Not Support Whaling or Consume Whale Meat:

IFAW released MORI Poll Shows Wide-held theory that Japanese support whaling

and defend whale meat industry is disproved by leading international opinion

research firm

 

LONDON, March 16 -/E-Wire/-- In a survey of the Japanese public released

today by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW-- www.ifaw.org) and

Greenpeace, 55% held no opinion or were neutral in regard to commercial

whaling -- dispelling the wide-held belief that the Japanese public was a

strong proponent of commercial whaling. While 14% opposed whaling outright,

only 11% supported it. A strong 20% noted that the reason for killing the

whales would play a part in their decision. The survey was conducted by

Britain's leading opinion research company MORI, in partnership with the

well-known Nippon Research Center in Japan.

 

The Japanese government has been the strongest global proponents for the

reopening of international commercial whaling -- banned since 1986. The

Japanese government most often cites cultural and traditional values as the

main reason for hunting whale. In their report, MORI disproves this theory,

showing, " the Japanese are largely neutral on the perceived importance to

them personally of commercial whaling continuing: 24% say it is important,

25% say not -- and half are undecided. "

 

Even more dramatically, the report finds that, " Virtually nobody fears

Japan's cultural identity would suffer greatly were whaling to stop. Even

among whaling's defenders, only one in twenty predict a 'great deal' of

damage if it stopped, and four in ten (42%) say 'not very much' or 'not at

all'. "

 

" These strong poll results clearly indicate that the people of Japan no

longer consider whaling to be an integral part of their cultural heritage,

nor do they support it, " said Karen Steuer, IFAW Director of Commercial

Trade and Exploitation of Animals. " Finally we can do away with this archaic

argument, " she added.

 

These significant Japanese poll results come at a time when Japan has heated

up its battle to reopen the international trade in whale meat. Japan will

introduce three such proposals -- including the hunting of minke and gray

whale -- at the upcoming Convention on the International Trade in Endangered

Species (CITES) meeting to be held in Nairobi from April 10th-20th.

Yesterday, a top Japanese fishery official announced that Japan would

utilize software developed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to

carry out its hunts without endangering the species.

 

" The government's claim that the IWC has developed a computer program that

will suddenly allow them to go whaling is not valid, " said IFAW's Japan

Representative, Naoko Funahashi. " Several years ago the IWC approved a

method of calculating how many whales might be taken from some whale

populations without depleting them, but that method is designed only to be

used in combination with a strict monitoring regime to prevent the

under-reporting of whale catches that has plagued the whaling industry

throughout history. This monitoring procedure has yet to be developed and

approved by the IWC. "

 

The MORI poll report also shows that Japanese do not consider whale meat to

be an important part of their diet, stating that, " Six in ten (61%) have not

eaten it since childhood, if at all, and just 1% eat it once a month (and

nobody more often than this). "

 

" Clearly the people of Japan do not consider whale meat to be a significant

component of their diet, " said Steuer. " Japanese whaling proponents can no

longer be allowed to use this as their defense in campaigning for

international commercial whaling. "

 

SOURCE International Fund for Animal Welfare

 

-0- 03/16/2000

 

/EDITOR'S ADVISORY: A nationally representative sample of 1,185 Japanese

adults aged 18+ was interviewed face-to-face between 17 November - 2

December 1999/

 

/CONTACT: Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell of IFAW, USA Tel: 508-744-2076,

jfm/