14 DAY TRIAL // Recent information indicates the fact that Japan is currently engaged in obtaining a new deal of whaling, and that it's trying to persuade the six nations that make up the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to allow it to continue its bogus “scientific” whaling program that claims the lives of more than 1,000 whales of various species each year. With the new deal, Japan will be asked to stop bothering Australian and Antarctic waters, and will be given a larger quota in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
Environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd have expressed their deep concern over the new decisions, as well as over the fact that such things are decided by the IWC behind closed doors, in a process that thoroughly lacks transparency. They say that the public in countries that are to be affected by future decisions needs to be informed and to consent to them.
“This is Whalergate. We have had growing concerns about the talks under way behind closed doors in the IWC. Those concerns are increased by the leaking of this secret plan,” the global director of the International Fund for Animals anti-whaling program Patrick Ramage argues. He says that the document, written by Bush-appointee Bill Hogarth, the head of IWC, states that Japan will have to reduce its Antarctic operations by 20 percent for 5 years, eventually abandoning hunt in the area altogether, and moving its fleet to the new designated hunting grounds.
The leaked document also mentions that the killing of humpback and fin whales is absolutely and thoroughly prohibited, starting now. To make Japan accept the new conditions, the IWC said that “A larger quota could be assigned for coastal whaling, provided that all annual quotas are consistent with the advice of the Scientific Committee.” Beyond the legal stiff tone, this means that the Japanese will have a free hand to cull whales in the Pacific, as they please.
Undoubtedly, under the new conditions, environmental groups that benefit from shipping capabilities, such as Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, will renounce their disputes and move past their differences, in order to assist each other with boats and fuel, while chasing the whaling fleet away from the whales.