Tuesday 19 June 2012

Antigua To Support Japanese Whaling Again

Antigua To Support Japanese Whaling Again

photo - indosurflife.com
photo - indosurflife.com
Antigua St John's - Antigua and Barbuda will again be voting in favor of what has become known as the most controversial form of slaughter and animal cruelty of the century – whaling. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has signaled his administration’s intention to again support Japan’s bid to continue the killing of cetaceans as part of its approach to marine preservation.



And according to reports from the online medium ‘Examiner’, Antigua & Barbuda may have been a part of an alleged bribery operation undertaken by the Japanese government to gain the support of small nations that find it rewarding to favor of Japanese whaling.

“The Japanese government is allegedly bribing small countries like the Solomon Islands and Antigua & Barbuda to vote against the proposal,” says an article by Phil Kline, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.

To counter the alleged bribery, Greenpeace had begun an email fundraising drive of its own within the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The group accuses Japan of bribing small countries to vote against the interests of the whales and against their vision of the broader environmental benefits of whale protection.

Prime Minister Spencer has reportedly said that the move to support Japan is part of his government’s belief that such action does not affect marine life and is subject to change based on the government’s perception of its impact on marine activity.

His comments come as yet another slap in the face for sister OECS nation Dominica, which markets its tourism product on the shoulders of whale watching and natural preservation.

Local environmentalist Eli Fuller says Antigua is supporting the move because it is being allegedly bribed to do so; plain and simple. He told Caribarena that the country has no business supporting Japan to kill whales, since the country is not given any assistance to protect any marine life in any way, especially by Japan.

Fuller noted that when he heard that the minister responsible for marine resources talking about “sustainable use” and saying that whaling is “sustainable use”, his reaction was: “They were given blood money. There is zero evidence of any initiative for sustainable use of our marine resources. It’s very hypocritical for them to be talking about sustainable use when none of the money given from Japan is put towards sustaining our marine resources,” he said.

Over the years, there have been several attempts by conservationists locally to persuade the government to vote differently, but these have all gone unheeded.

Fuller suggested that if the government is so bent on taking the Japanese money, it should at least use it to build the local fisheries industry and allow the Japanese government to assist in the supply of the relevant resources to help manage the industry.

According to the Antigua and Barbuda Independent Tourism Promotion Corporation’s Martha Gilkes, her organization has taken a formal stance against whaling for years and continues to do so today.



“ABITPC still takes a stance that Antigua should not be voting pro-whaling for a number of reasons including that it is very bad for tourism,” Gilkes said, adding that several anti-Antigua forums were found online because of the nation’s stance.

She too, questioned the use of the Japanese funding received over the years for fisheries enhancement.

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Friday 15 June 2012

Japan's appetite for whale meat wanes

www.whalesongart.com

Fried whale meat at a restaurant in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Photograph: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters Fried whale meat at a restaurant in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Photograph: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters
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Thursday 14 June 2012

Three-quarters of the meat from whales caught last summer was unsold, report reveals

Japan's failing appetite for whale meat left three-quarters of meat from whales caught in the north-west Pacific last summer unsold, according to a report.
Junko Sakuma, a freelance journalist, said the body responsible for selling meat from Japan's controversial "scientific" whaling programme had failed to sell 908 tonnes of the 1,211-tonne catch, despite holding 13 public auctions since last October.
The report, published on the website of the Tokyo-based Dolphin and Whale Action Network, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, a quasi-governmental body that oversees the hunts, had hoped to use sales from the meat to cover the costs of the whaling fleet's expeditions.
The failure of the auctions to pique consumer interest in meat from minke, Bryde's and sei whales has forced the institute to revert to private sales through Kyodo Senpaku, the for-profit firm that collects, processes and sells the meat on behalf of the institute.
Sakuma said the oversupply of whale meat, despite pockets of demand for the highest quality produce, had made Japan's lethal research programme unsustainable.
The Institute of Cetacean Research blamed low demand on the complicated auction procedure and reluctance among food suppliers to attract criticism from anti-whaling groups such as Sea Shepherd.
"We could not achieve the results we had anticipated," an institute official told Kyodo.
Although the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, Japan is allowed to conduct so-called "scientific" hunts in the north-west Pacific and the Antarctic. The IWC stipulates the meat must be processed and sold on the open market.
But campaigns to revive the tradition of eating whale meat – which was largely confined to a few coastal towns – have failed to capture the public's imagination.
A 2006 survey by the Nippon Research Centre found that 95% of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat. Consumption of whale meat rose after the second world war as it provided a much-needed source of protein.
Sakuma's report will come as another blow to Japan's beleaguered whaling industry.
Campaigners claimed a major victory when the Antarctic whaling fleet returned to port in March with just 30% of its planned catch of more than 900 whales. The fisheries agency blamed the poor catch on bad weather and "sabotage" by Sea Shepherd.
Late last year, it was revealed the government used 2.28bn yen (£18.5m) from the 11 March earthquake recovery fund, on top of its existing $6m (£3.87m) annual subsidy, to pay for the most recent Antarctic hunt.
The fisheries agency said the use of the fund was justified because one of the towns destroyed by the tsunami was a whaling port.