590 NGOs Call To Stop Japan’s Whaling Policy in Antarctica

590 NGOs Call To Stop Japan’s Whaling Policy in Antarctica
Tuesday, 20 January 2015, 10:06 am
Press Release: Center for Cetacean Conservation

Center for Cetacean Conservation
19/01/15


Latin American, Caribbean and International NGOs Call Governments to Stop Japan’s Whaling Policy in Antarctica

Nearly fifty non governmental organizations (NGOs) of Latin America, the Caribbean and international made an urgent call on Monday to their regional governments requesting urgent actions against the obvious intentions of the Japanese government to continue using so-called "scientific" whaling programs in Antarctica to cover commercial whaling operations and move towards the elimination of Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.


January 19, 2015 (CCC News) - Forty-seven civil organizations from Latin America, the Caribbean and international called on Monday the Buenos Aires Group – Latin American countries at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) – to conduct urgent actions oriented to publicly reject the intentions of the government of Japan to continue slaughtering whales at a commercial-scale in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary under allegedly “scientific” purposes.

The call of the NGOs follows the presentation last November of a new "scientific" whaling plan in Antarctica by the government of Japan, called NEWREP-A, which includes, among others, the annual catch of over 300 minke whales. The plan is part of the actions conducted by Japan after the landmark ruling of the International Court of Justice, that in March 31, 2014 ruled that the killing of whales of that country in Antarctica under alleged “scientific” research purposes is illegal since it violates the global moratorium on commercial whaling and the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

The delivery of the letter to the Buenos Aires Group coincides with the recent departure of the whaling fleet to Antarctica to conduct a "census" of whales by non-lethal methods, a move that forms part of the Japanese government strategy to gain support to its intentions to continue hunting hundreds of whales each year for "scientific" purposes in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, starting from December 2015.

Among the main concerns expressed by 47 civil society organizations from over 15 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and international, regarding the newJapanese whaling plan in Antarctic NEWREP-A, the NGOs stress that the self assigned annual quota of 333 antarctic minke whales during the next twelve years is 3,300% higher than the quota suggested by the only scientific expert of Japan at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and exceeds by 32% the number of minke whales killed by Japan during the last season of JARPA II, the “scientific” whaling program that was sentenced as illegal by the ICJ last March.

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1501/S00140/590-ngos-call-to-stop-japans-whaling-policy-in-antarctica.htm