Showing posts with label Australia-Japan relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia-Japan relations. Show all posts

Friday 4 November 2016

Australia and New Zealand successful in gaining IWC review of process by which 'scientific' slaughter of Antarctic whales is allowed to continue



On 28 October 2016 the International Whaling Commission (IWC) considered a draft resolution by Australia and New Zealand seeking to improve the review process for whaling under special permit. 

Special permits being the mechanism used by the Government of Japan to continue its annual slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean for the commercial benefit of a domestic niche market for whale meat for human consumption and for the Japanese pet food industry.

The resolution was passed.

IWC, 27 October 2016:

Governments on all sides of the scientific whaling debate highlighted the positive and constructive spirit of negotiations on a Resolution on Improving the Review Process for Whaling under Special Permit, but ultimately agreement could not be reached and the Resolution was put to a vote which adopted the Resolution with 34 yes votes, 17 no votes and 10 abstentions.  Amongst the measures included is the establishment of a new Commission Working Group to consider Scientific Committee reports and recommendations on this issue.


“Now, therefore the Commission:
1. Agrees to establish a Standing Working Group (“the Working Group”), in accordance with Article III.4 of the Convention. The Working Group will be appointed by the Bureau on the basis of nominations from Contracting Governments, to consider the reports and recommendations of the Scientific Committee with respect to all new, ongoing and completed special permit programmes and report to the Commission, in accordance with the Terms of Reference contained in the Appendix to this resolution.
2. Agrees that the discussion of special permit programmes be afforded sufficient priority and time allocation to allow for adequate review at both Commission and Scientific Committee meetings;
3. In order to facilitate the Commission’s timely and meaningful consideration of new, ongoing and completed special permit programmes, Requests Contracting Governments to submit proposals for new special permit programmes, and review documentation for ongoing and completed special permit programmes, at least six months before the Scientific Committee meeting held in the same year as a Commission meeting (see the indicative process set out in paragraph 9 of the Appendix);
4. In order to facilitate the Scientific Committee’s review of new, ongoing and completed special permit programmes, Requests Contracting Governments to provide members of the Scientific Committee unrestricted and continuing access to all data collected under special permit programmes that are:
a. used in the development of new programmes; or
b. included in ongoing or final programme reviews. Data made available in accordance with this request shall be used only for the purposes of evaluation and review of special permit programmes.
5. Instructs the Scientific Committee to inform the Commission as to whether Scientific Committee members had unrestricted and continuing access to data collected under special permit programmes, and analyses thereof;
6. Further instructs the Scientific Committee to provide its evaluation of proposals to the Commission in the same year as a Commission meeting (regardless of when the Scientific Committee’s review commences), and to make necessary revisions to its procedures for reviewing special permit programmes, including Annex P, to incorporate the expectation that Contracting Governments will schedule any special permit programmes in accordance with the process outlined in paragraph 3;
7. Agrees that the Commission will consider the reports of the Scientific Committee and of the Working Group at the first Commission meeting after the Scientific Committee has reviewed the new, ongoing or completed special permit programme in question and, taking into account those reports, the Commission will: a. form its own view regarding:
i. whether the review process has adequately followed the instructions set out in Annex P and any additional instructions provided by the Commission ;
ii. whether the elements of a proposed special permit programme, or the results reported from an ongoing or completed special permit programme, have been adequately demonstrated to meet the criteria set out in the relevant terms of reference in Annex P, and any additional criteria elaborated by the Commission; and
iii. any other relevant aspect of the new, ongoing or completed special permit programme and review in question;
b. provide any recommendations or advice it considers appropriate to the responsible Contracting Government regarding any aspect of the new, ongoing or completed special permit programme, including affirming or modifying any proposed recommendations or advice proposed by the Scientific Committee.
c. provide any direction it considers appropriate to the Scientific Committee.
d. make public a summary of the Commission’s conclusions in this respect, by way of publication on the Commission’s website, within 7 days of the end of the Commission meeting.”

Background

The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 March 2016: 

Tokyo: Japan's whaling fleet returned on Thursday from its Antarctic hunt after a year-long suspension with a take of more than 300 whales, including pregnant females.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean should stop, prompting it to call off its hunt that season, although it said at the time it intended to resume later.
Japan then amended its plan for the next season to cut the number of minke whales it aimed to take by two-thirds from previous hunts.
Its fleet set out in December despite international criticism, including from important ally the United States.
The final ships of the four-vessel whaling fleet returned to Shimonoseki in southwestern Japan on Thursday, having achieved the goal of 333 minke whales, the Fisheries Agency said.
Of these, 103 were males and 230 were females, with 90 per cent of the mature females pregnant.

Sunday 23 October 2016

Australia and New Zealand ask International Whaling Commission to curb Japan's 'scientific' whaling program



The International Whaling Commission is an Inter-governmental Organisation whose purpose is the conservation of whales and the management of whaling.  The legal framework of the IWC is the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.  This Convention was established in 1946, making it one of the first pieces of international environmental legislation.  All member countries of the IWC are signatories to this Convention.  The IWC has a current membership of 88 Governments from countries all over the world.

The Guardian, 21 October 2016:

Australia has thrown its weight behind a bid to outlaw large-scale commercial and so-called “scientific” whaling at a summit next week.

The International Whaling Commission meeting in Slovenia follows Japan’s recent slaughter of more than 300 minke whales, many of them pregnant, when they resumed so-called scientific whaling after a hiatus because the International Court of Justice ruled the hunts were not scientific and should cease.

Australia has put forward a resolution to the conference that would require Japan to get approval from the IWC for its “scientific” quotas.

Japan is also expected to again face criticism from other countries for its whaling in the Southern Ocean, in defiance of the court ruling….

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the global moratorium on commercial whaling and 70 years since the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was made.

In 2008 the Australian federal court found Japanese whaling in the Australian Whale Sanctuary to be in breach of Australian law and Japanese whaling company Kyodo was fined $1m in 2015. Attempts to recover the money have so far failed.

Kitty Block, the vice-president of the Humane Society International, which was part of the Australian legal action, said: “Japan’s unilateral resumption of its so-called ‘scientific’ hunt in the Southern Ocean last year is a slap in the face not just for the International Whaling Commission but also for the rule of law, as the international court of justice clearly ruled Japan’s previous Antarctic ‘research’ program to be illegal.”……

The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 October 2016:

Japan last year partially withdrew from the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice at The Hague to prevent any further challenge on whaling, and issued new guidelines that Tokyo claims justify killing more than 4000 whales in the next decade.

Conservation groups are urging the Turnbull government to send a patrol vessel to the Southern Ocean in the coming months to monitor Japan's whaling fleet.

Monday 28 March 2016

Japan admits to mass slaughter of pregnant minke whales during Antarctic breeding season



Tokyo: Japan's whaling fleet returned on Thursday from its Antarctic hunt after a year-long suspension with a take of more than 300 whales, including pregnant females.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean should stop, prompting it to call off its hunt that season, although it said at the time it intended to resume later.
Japan then amended its plan for the next season to cut the number of minke whales it aimed to take by two-thirds from previous hunts.
Its fleet set out in December despite international criticism, including from important ally the United States.
The final ships of the four-vessel whaling fleet returned to Shimonoseki in southwestern Japan on Thursday, having achieved the goal of 333 minke whales, the Fisheries Agency said.
Of these, 103 were males and 230 were females, with 90 per cent of the mature females pregnant.

National Geographic, 25 March 2016:

Flouting an international ruling, Japan resumed minke whaling for ‘scientific purposes’ during breeding season….

After the international court ruling, Japan halted its whaling activities briefly, but then resolved to begin whaling again in the  2015-2016 season. It revised its program to be more scientific, and it lowered its quota of whales by about two-thirds.

Still, many scientists derided the new plan, and the International Whaling Commission could not reach a consensus on whether it met requirements. And while the quota reduction looked good on paper, it didn’t make much of a difference in practice, according to Astrid Fuchs, the whaling program manager for the nonprofit organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation. In previous years, Japan has killed between 200-400 Antarctic minke whales each year. This year’s 333 isn’t out of the ordinary.

Also part of its plan: targeting females. Japan maintains that it must capture and kill juvenile and adult females in order to determine the age at which minke whales reach sexual maturity. Japan wants to use this data in its quest to demonstrate the minke whale population is healthy enough for regular whaling, Fuchs said.

And because it’s breeding time in the southern seas, 90 percent of the females Japanese whalers killed were pregnant.

The expedition was part of a 12-year plan to kill nearly 4,000 whales in Antarctic waters. The conservation status of Antarctic minke whales is unclear, but some analyses have found a 60 percent reduction when comparing the 1978–91 period and the 1991–2004 period, which would qualify it for endangered status.

Anyone wishing to politely make their views on Japanese whaling in the South Ocean/Antarctica known to the Government of Japan can do so with these contact details:

PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8968 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-5253-2111
E-mail form: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
Public Relations Fax: +81-3-3581-3883

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida
Foreign Affairs online comment page:

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry And Fisheries Hiroshi Moriyama
1-2-1 Ksumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8907 JAPAN
Tel:+81-3-3502-8111
Fax: +81-3-3502-0794
E-mail form: https://www.contact.maff.go.jp/maff/form/114e.html
Website: http://www.maff.go.jp/e/index.html

EMBASSY OF JAPAN IN AUSTRALIA

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Australia Sumio Kusaka
Embassy of Japan in Australia
112 Empire Circuit, Yarralumla
Canberra A.C.T.2600
 Australia.
Tel:(61-2)6273-3244
Fax:(61-2)6273-1848
http://www.au.emb-japan.go.jp/

Thursday 21 January 2016

Japanese whalers active again in Antarctic waters


Snapshot, Google Earth image of Antarctica, 14 December 2015

Sea Shepherd Australia, Monday 18 January 2016:

Sea Shepherd’s Flagship, the Steve Irwin, has departed Fremantle, Western Australia for the Southern Ocean. The ship’s departure marks the official commencement of the organization’s 12th Southern Ocean Defense Campaign, Operation Icefish 2015-16.

Led by returning Captain, Siddharth Chakravarty, Sea Shepherd will once again defend the pristine waters of Antarctica from poachers, with the aim to shutdown illegal activities in what is the world’s last great wilderness.

Sea Shepherd will employ direct-action techniques to fill a law enforcement void that continues to be exploited by the Japanese whale poaching fleet and the two remaining illegal toothfish vessels, Viking and Kunlun (Taishan), which continue to threaten the survival of the fragile and wild Antarctic ecosystem.

“The Steve Irwin will be the only proactive enforcement presence in Antarctica once again this year. The shadowlands of Antarctica are under threat and we are the only form of protection to the marine wildlife in these unregulated regions. Other than offering direct and immediate protection to the oceans, we intend to investigate and document the illegalities and work with law-enforcement agencies, once again, to aid and close out existing investigations worldwide,” said Captain Chakravarty.

As Captain Chakravarty and the crew of the Steve Irwin depart for the Southern Ocean, Sea Shepherd has called on the governments who are responsible for upholding the laws that protect the Southern Ocean to intervene against these poaching operations.

“Sea Shepherd should not be left to defend Antarctica alone,” said Captain Alex Cornelissen, CEO of Sea Shepherd Global. “For the last 13 years our ships and crews have shone an international spotlight on both the illegal whaling and more recently on the illegal toothfish operations. Now it’s time for governments to step-up and take serious action to address the issue of poaching in the Southern Ocean.”

Managing Director of Sea Shepherd Australia, Jeff Hansen, said, “Sea Shepherd needs reinforcements. 76.9% of Australians want the Australian government to send a vessel to oppose the Japanese whale poaching fleet. Australia has been commended for taking Japan to the ICJ, but now the government needs to take responsibility for enforcement by sending a ship to oppose the whale poachers.”


Up to 333 minke whales will be killed by Japanese whalers hunting in the Southern Ocean in 2016. The whaling fleet set sail for Antarctica on 1 December 2015.

Excerpt from Joint statement on whaling and safety at sea released on 12 January 2016 by the Governments of Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States:

Our Governments remain resolutely opposed to commercial whaling, in particular in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary established by the International Whaling Commission. We do not believe that Japan has sufficiently demonstrated that it has given due regard to the guidance found in the 2014 International Court of Justice judgment on ensuring that lethal research whaling is consistent with the obligations under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. On December 7, 2015, our Governments joined 29 other nations to protest Japan’s decision. We urged Japan to respect the International Whaling Commission’s procedures and the advice of its Expert Review Panel and Scientific Committee. The science is clear: all information necessary for management and conservation of whales can be obtained through non-lethal methods.

We note that the final NEWREP-A research plan, circulated to the Scientific Committee members on November 27, 2015, has not proceeded through the International Whaling Commission’s processes, set out in Resolution 2014-5, which requests that proponents allow the IWC to consider the Scientific Committee’s review of special permit proposals prior to their commencement.

Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States are committed to improving the conservation status of whales worldwide, maintaining the International Whaling Commission's global moratorium on commercial whaling, and implementing meaningful reform of the International Whaling Commission.

Monday 2 February 2015

IWC Expert Panel Review Workshop on Japan's revised lethal whale research program in Antarctic waters scheduled for 7-10 February 2015


Since the Government of Japan first began its lethal research program to circumvent its obligations under the moratorium on whale hunting imposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1985-6, it has officially killed an est. 10,919 whales in Antarctic waters.


In September 2014 The Guardian reporting on the 65th biennial IWC meeting Resolution 2014-5 stated:

Japan has responded to a non-binding International Whaling Commission (IWC) vote to impose strict limits on its ‘scientific whaling’ programme, by announcing that it will proceed with a new round of culls in the Southern Ocean next year regardless.
The 65th meeting of the world’s whale conservation body voted by 35 to 20 with five abstentions in favour of a resolution by New Zealand, requiring members to put future scientific whaling programmes to the IWC’s scientific committee and the biennial commission itself for guidance.
Had Japan respected the vote, it would have extended until 2016 a one year moratorium that Tokyo declared after the International Court of Justice judged it in breach of IWC rules on scientific whaling.

However, the IWC Report of the Scientific Committee in May 2014 indicates that Japan’s so-called scientific research program continues to be scrutinised by the commission:

17.4.2 Planning for review of future Japanese Special Permit research in Antarctic

Japan announced that the Government of Japan plans to issue a Special Permit for a new research programme in the Antarctic starting in the season 2015/16. Japan wishes this programme to be reviewed at the 2015 Annual Meeting, in accordance with ‘Annex P’.
The new proposal will be reviewed under the process stipulated in the Annex P. Japan will submit a new proposal to the chair of the Scientific Committee no later than six months before the next Annual Meeting of the Scientific Committee in 2015 (October/November 2014).
The proposal should then be reviewed by a small specialist workshop with a limited but adequate number of invited experts.
The Workshop should be organised at least 100 days before the Annual Meeting in 2015 (January/February 2015).
Results of the Workshop should be duly submitted to the next Annual Meeting of the Committee in 2015 for its final review.
The Government of Japan will meet the necessary costs for organising the Workshop to be held in Tokyo in January/February 2015, which includes the cost for the meeting venue and other miscellaneous costs other than the travel/stay costs for the participants.
Travel/stay costs for the participants at the Workshop are expected to be met by IWC.
The Committee agrees to submit a budget request for the 2014/15 intersessional period to cover the travel and stay of the expert panel (see Item 26).

This workshop is scheduled for 7-10 February 2015 in Tokyo, Japan, with the last day reserved for the Expert Review Panel to focus on its report to the International Whaling Commission.

Whether Japan will further revise its lethal research in the Southern Ocean if the report contains methodology concerns or it decides to ignore the review panel finding, holding to its new program and to a larger area in which to conduct its announced reduced annual kill, is yet unknown.

Vessels from the Japanese whaling fleet are now heading for the Southern Ocean to conduct a survey – presumably in preparation for next year’s whale hunt.

Sunday 23 November 2014

Japan to continue its annual commercial whale hunt in the Southern Ocean


Once Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was safely out of Australia, after attending the November 2014 G20 summit, Japan announced it will continue its annual whale kill in the Southern Ocean.

Reuters 18 November 2014:

Japan on Tuesday unveiled plans to resume whale hunting in the Southern Ocean despite an international court ruling that previous hunts were illegal, but said it would slash the quota for the so-called scientific whaling program….
The new plan, which a Fisheries Agency official said was drawn up in line with suggestions contained in the court ruling, calls for hunting 333 minke whales, down from some 900 in Japan's previous whaling plans, in the 2015-2016 season.
The plan, which Japan has submitted to the International Whaling Commission, also limits the hunt to minkes. In past years, the hunts had included quotas for humpback and fin whales as well.
"We hope to earnestly explain this new plan in order to win understanding from other nations in the world," Koya Nishikawa, the fisheries minister, told reporters.

Japan canceled its Antarctic hunt this year in response to the ICJ ruling, and carried out a scaled-down version of its less known Northern Pacific hunt this summer.

The Sea Shepherd organisation has stated its intention to prevent the 2015-16 whale hunt by hindering the whaling fleet once it enters Antarctic waters.

Australian Government Dept. of the Environment, Australian Antarctic Division:

Minke whales are one of the smallest species of baleen whales and grow to nearly 9 metres long and about 10 tonnes in weight.
There are two 'forms' of minke whales, sub species or possibly even separate species. They are distinguished by size and colour pattern differences…
Minkes are the only baleen whale species which is still common in Antarctic waters and apparently the most ice adapted of the Antarctic baleen whales. They have been seen hundreds of kilometres into heavy pack ice in the middle of winter, and some of them obviously spend the winter there.
In summer, their favoured habitat seems to be open pack ice, that is, pack ice where there is quite a lot of open water among ice floes.
In very heavy ice, minkes breathe by sticking their pointed heads vertically out through narrow cracks in the ice. How they can find their way from one open crack to another before they run out of breath is a mystery.
Minkes are regarded as very inquisitive animals. They will often swim repeatedly around a small vessel, and go out of their way to approach a moving ship, before veering away at high speed….
They are now the target of the whaling industry, which in its present form, kills minkes for 'scientific research', but is attempting to recommence commercial whaling. The meat from this research is sold in commercial markets….
Like other baleen whales, many minke whales migrate to somewhere in tropical waters to breed in winter….
...they feed almost exclusively on Antarctic krill while in Antarctic waters.... usually feed in groups, but may form huge groups of many hundreds if there is enough food present.

Antarctic minke whales commence breeding at between 6-8 years of age, nurse their young for five months after a 10-11 month gestation and, have a normal life expectancy of over 20 years possibly up to around 50 years.

Minke whale and calf

Friday 22 August 2014

A Lesson For Japan: Southern Ocean Research Partnership proves non-lethal whale research both possible and productive


A satellite-tagged minke whale in the Antarctic. 
Picture: ARI FRIEDLAENDER/AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION
The Herald Sun 16 August 2014


Department of the Environment Australian Antarctic Division 13 August 2014:

The extraordinary feeding behaviour of Antarctic minke whales has been recorded for the first time, showing the mammals lunge feeding up to 100 times per hour under the sea ice, gorging on Antarctic krill.

Scientists from the United States and Australia attached multi-sensor suction cup satellite tags to minke whales off the west Antarctic Peninsula last year to study their foraging patterns.

Australian Antarctic Division Chief Scientist, Dr Nick Gales, said the tags measured the whales’ orientation, depth and acceleration.
“Prior to this work the movements and diving behaviour of these whales was something of a mystery as no tags had been deployed on the species,” Dr Gales said.

“We found that the minkes were swimming just beneath the sea ice, feeding at incredibly high rates, taking mouthfuls of krill every 30 seconds.

“This is very different from other whale behaviour, for example the gigantic blue whales lunge up to four times during a dive and smaller humpbacks lunge up to 12 times.”

The study also found the minkes’ size and manoeuvrability allows them to take advantage of the sea ice habitat.
“The minke’s preferred prey, Antarctic krill, aggregate under the sea ice and attract the whales to the area, leading to these feeding frenzies,” Dr Gales said.

“But any future change in sea ice has the potential to impact on the minke whales’ foraging habits.”

The study is part of the Australian-led Southern Ocean Research Partnership, which is focused on non-lethal research and is endorsed by the International Whaling Commission.

“It’s clear from the insight we have gained into the whales’ behaviour through this work, that you simply don’t have to kill the whales to study them,” Dr Gales said.

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Background

The Southern Ocean Research Partnership was established in 2009 to enhance cetacean conservation and the delivery of non-lethal whale research to the International Whaling Commission (IWC). SORP partners include Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. The Partnership research focus is on post-exploitation whale population structure, health and status; and changing atmosphere and oceans: Southern Ocean whales and their ecosystems.

Sunday 20 April 2014

Japanese parliamentary committee wants Southern Ocean whaling to continue "as the only country in the world with a scientific approach"


Photograph of Japanese whale hunt found at Sky News

Will Japan’s internal politics go further than just encouraging its government to continue its Antarctic lethal research/commercial whaling venture?

Aljazeera 16 April 2014:

A Japanese parliamentary committee has unanimously passed a resolution urging the government to investigate all options to continue whaling, including "walking out of the (international whaling) convention".

The 40-strong fisheries committee, made up of a cross-section of members of the lower house, demanded on Wednesday the government redesign its "research" whaling programme to circumvent an international court ruling that described the programme as a commercial hunt dressed up as science.

It said the ruling earlier this month by the International Court of Justice that banned Japan's research whaling programme in the Southern Ocean was "truly regrettable" but "does not necessarily prevent Japan's whaling, which is a unique tradition and culture".
The panel demanded the government find a way to continue the research operation "so as to play a responsible role as the only country in the world with a scientific approach", according to AFP news agency. 

The parliamentarians also demanded the government swiftly draw up a plan to replace the banned Antarctic whaling operation and fully prepare for a new programme while circulating "whale meat - a by-product of research whaling - appropriately as before".
Although it is a signatory to the International Whaling Convention (IWC), which bans the commercial hunting of the mammals, Japan has used a loophole that allows for "lethal research". 

It said it was perfectly proper for people to consume the meat that was the inevitable by-product of the killing….

Tuesday 1 April 2014

How Japanese media see the International Court of Justice ruling on Antarctic whaling



THE HAGUE--The International Court of Justice on March 31 ordered a temporary halt to Japan's Antarctic whaling program, ruling that it is not for scientific purposes as the Japanese government had claimed.
Australia had sued Japan at the U.N.'s highest court for resolving disputes between nations in hopes of ending whaling in the icy Southern Ocean.
Reading a 12-4 decision by the court's 16-judge panel, Presiding Judge Peter Tomka said Japan's program fails to justify the large number of minke whales it says it needs to catch under its current Antarctic program--850 annually--and it doesn't catch that many anyway. It also didn't come close to catching the 50 fin and 50 humpback whales it aimed to take.
All that drew into doubt Japan's assertion that its whaling is for scientific purposes, he said.
"The court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking, and treating of whales ... are not 'for purposes of scientific research'," Tomka said.
The court ordered Japan to halt any issuing of whaling permits at least until the program has been thoroughly revamped.
Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Noriyuki Shikata told reporters that the country "regrets and is deeply disappointed" by the decision.
But "as a state that respects the rule of law ... and as a responsible member of the global community, Japan will abide by the ruling of the court," he said.
Former Australian environment minister Peter Garrett, who helped launch the suit four years ago, said he felt vindicated by the decision.
"I'm absolutely over the moon, for all those people who wanted to see the charade of scientific whaling cease once and for all," Garrett told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "I think (this) means without any shadow of a doubt that we won't see the taking of whales in the Southern Ocean in the name of science."
Although the decision is a major victory for Australia and environmental groups that oppose whaling on ethical grounds, it will not mean the end of whaling.
Japan has a second, smaller scientific program in the northern Pacific--which now may also be subject to challenge…
The ruling did say explicitly that killing whales for scientific purposes would be legal under international law in the context of a better-designed study.
Japan's program was supposed to determine whether commercial whaling of some species can resume without bringing them in danger of extinction.
The ruling noted among other factors that Japan had not considered a smaller program or non-lethal methods to study whale populations, and said Japan had cited only two peer-reviewed scientific papers relating to its program from 2005 to the present--a period during which it has harpooned 3,600 minke whales, a handful of fin whales, and no humpback whales at all.
The Japan Times 31 March 2014:

THE HAGUE – The U.N.’s top court on Monday ordered Japan to end its annual Antarctic whale hunt, saying in a landmark ruling that the program was a commercial activity disguised as science.
“Japan shall revoke any existant authorization, permit or license granted in relation to JARPA II (research program) and refrain from granting any further permits in pursuance to the program,” International Court of Justice Presiding Judge Peter Tomka said…

Japan Today 31 March 2014:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands —
The International Court of Justice on Monday ordered a temporary halt to Japan’s Antarctic whaling program, ruling that it is not for scientific purposes as the Japanese government had claimed.
Australia had sued Japan at the U.N.‘s highest court for resolving disputes between nations in hopes of ending whaling in the icy Southern Ocean.
Reading a 12-4 decision by the court’s 16-judge panel, Presiding Judge Peter Tomka said Japan’s program fails to justify the large number of minke whales it says it needs to catch under its current Antarctic program - 850 annually - and it doesn’t catch that many anyway. It also didn’t come close to catching the 50 fin and 50 humpback whales it aimed to take….

Nikkei Asian Review 31 March 2014:

THE HAGUE (Kyodo) -- Japan on Monday lost a court case lodged by Australia seeking to end Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Ocean, as the U.N. court ruled Japan's whale hunting is not conducted for scientific purposes and forbidding the whaling to continue.
The judgment by the International Court of Justice in The Hague is binding and final without appeal, forcing Japan to change a whaling program it claimed to be for "scientific research."
Japan has made it clear that it will comply with the judgment.
Japan has insisted that its whaling program is consistent with Article 8 of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which permits research whaling, and that selling whale meat is also permitted by the article as it requires any whales taken to be processed as far as practicable.
But a 16-judge panel at the court decided that Japan's whaling is not consistent with the international agreement, supporting Australia's position that Japan's whaling in the Antarctic Ocean should stop.
After a moratorium on commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission came into force in 1986, Japan continued whale hunting under quotas set by the Japanese government, saying collecting scientific data was necessary for sustainable use of whale resources.
Japan wanted to resume commercial whaling suspended by the moratorium, and by conducting "scientific whaling" it has sought to provide evidence to end the moratorium….

Mainichi 1 April 2014:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The International Court of Justice on Monday ordered a temporary halt to Japan's Antarctic whaling program, ruling that it is not for scientific purposes as the Japanese had claimed.
Australia had sued Japan at the U.N.'s highest court for resolving disputes between nations in hopes of ending whaling in the icy Southern Ocean.
Reading a 12-4 decision by the court's 16-judge panel, Presiding Judge Peter Tomka of Slovakia said Japan's program failed to justify the large number of minke whales it takes under its current Antarctic program, while failing to meet much smaller targets for fin and humpback whales.
"The evidence does not establish that the program's design and implementation are reasonable in relation to achieving its stated objectives," he said.
He noted among other factors that Japan had not considered a smaller program or non-lethal methods to study whale populations, and that it cited only two peer-reviewed scientific papers relating to its program from 2005 to the present - a period in which it has harpooned 3,600 minke whales, a handful of fin whales, and no humpback whales.
The court ordered Japan to halt any issuing of whaling permits until the program has been revamped….

Monday 31 March 2014

Wasn't Australia lucky that Whaling In The Antarctic (Australia V. Japan: New Zealand Intervening) was already before the International Court of Justice by the time Tony Abbott became prime minister


This was Tony Abbott reported in The Age on 12 January 2010:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says a Coalition government would not take international legal action against Japanese whaling…
While the Coalition would like Japan to stop whaling, ''we don't want to needlessly antagonise our most important trading partner, a fellow democracy, an ally'', he said.
''There are limits to what you can reasonably do, and taking war-like action against Japan is not something that a sensible Australian politician ought to recommend.''…

This is the victory for whale conservation in the Southern Ocean that the former Federal Labor Government bequeathed Australia:


Further information here.

On 31 March 2014 the International Court Of Justice rules that Japan's JARPA II annual whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean must cease



The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Japan's whaling program it not for scientific purposes and has forbidden the granting of further permits.
The finding by a 16-judge panel at the ICJ is in favour of Australia's argument that Japan's whaling program is carried out for commercial purposes rather than scientific research.
Japan has been able to kill unlimited numbers of whales in the Antarctic under treaty, arguing that they do so for scientific purposes.
Japan had argued it has complied with the moratorium despite a 2,000-year tradition of whale hunting, leaving coastal communities in "anguish" because they can no longer practice their ancestral traditions.
More than 10,000 whales have been killed since 1988 as a result of Japan's programs.
The ICJ's ruling is final and there will be no appeal.

The Sydney Morning Herald 31 March 2014:

The International Court of Justice has upheld Australia's bid to ban Japan's Antarctic whaling program. 
ICJ president Peter Tomka said the court concluded the scientific permits granted by Japan for its whaling program were not scientific research as defined under International Whaling Commission rules.
Mr Tomka said in The Hague that the court was persuaded that Japan had conducted a program for logistical and political considerations, rather than scientific research.
The court unanimously found it had jurisdiction to hear the case, and by 12 votes to four found that special permits granted by Japan in connection with the program, JARPA II, did not fall within the IWC convention.
It therefore ordered that Japan revoke any scientific permit under JARPA II and refrain from granting any further permits….
Australia sought an order from the International Court of Justice to stop the Japanese whale hunt in a case launched by the Rudd government in 2010.
The case began as tortuous diplomatic negotiations for Japan to phase out its Antarctic hunt broke down in the International Whaling Commission.
Other anti-whaling nations, including the United States, warned Australia against going to the court to fight the hunt which kills hundreds of whales each summer.
Washington's IWC Commissioner, Monica Medina, said that it was an uncertain gamble on whales' lives.
"This is a 'bet-the-whales' case," Ms Medina said then.
But a series of opinions by legal expert panels gathered by international wildlife conservation groups encouraged the then environment minister, Peter Garrett.
He argued strongly inside the Rudd government for taking on Japan, WikiLeaks documents showed….