OUTRAGE OVER WHALING ... #2 <cont>

Whaling

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When the commercial whaling moratorium was introduced by the IWC in 1982, Japan lodged an official objection. However, in response to US threats to cut Japan's fishing quota in US territorial waters under the terms of the Packwood-Magnuson Amendment, Japan withdrew its objection in 1987.

However, according to the BBC, America went back on this promise, [sigh] effectively destroying the deal.[14] Since Japan could not resume commercial whaling, it began whaling on a supposedly scientific-research basis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling#cite_note-13

Did Greens help kill the whale?
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

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'Irrational' ban

There is no doubt that Japan felt affronted by the moratorium. The most depleted species such as the blue whale were already protected, the IWC was awarding ever-declining annual quotas for the rest, and Japanese negotiators felt a complete halt was an unnecessary political act.
"It was a totally irrational position, to us," recounts Kazuo Shima, one of Japan's Commissioners to the IWC in the 1980s and 90s.

"The US gave strong pressure, which was a very irrational activity of them."

This came on top of Japanese resentment that they were being blamed for bringing some whales close to extinction by nations such as the UK and US which had historically caught far greater numbers.

As I mentioned, just a bunch of hypocritical born- againers. I think that a court case where all the facts can be brought out would be highly instructive and enlightening.

Along with Norway, Peru and the USSR, Japan lodged an objection to the whaling moratorium, which any IWC member was entitled to do, exempting themselves from the decision. It is on that basis that Norwegian whaling continues today.

The diplomatic pressure on Japan was about to increase.

Vein of vitriol

Reports from the period document the strong vein of anti-Japanese sentiment running through some strands of US society at the time.

The nation which US bombers had razed less than 30 years previously, which had entered the war through the attack on Pearl Harbour, was now out-competing the US industrially.

Japanese electronic goods were ceremonially smashed in Congress, and Tokyo voluntarily withheld car exports to avoid US protectionism.

Turning American citizens and American politicians against Japanese whaling, with lobbying, publicity and boycotts, was perhaps rather easy for NGOs.

The US had two pieces of legislation which it could use to put pressure not only on Japan in general, but on its huge fisheries interests directly.

The Packwood-Magnuson Amendment allowed Washington to cut the fishing quotas in US waters of any country which it felt was undermining an international conservation agreement; under the Pelly Amendment, it could impose trade sanctions on any offending nation.

Fishing quotas were hugely important to Japan. Its boats were catching more than a million tonnes of fish per year in US waters, mainly off the Alaskan coast. The New York Times of 1983 priced the catch at $425m annually, well beyond the value of Japan's whaling.

At the end of 1984, a coalition of environmental groups initiated a lawsuit aimed at forcing Ronald Reagan's administration to invoke Packwood-Magnuson and Pelly against Japan.

But in bilateral discussions, the two governments reached an agreement. Japan would cease whaling in 1988, two years beyond the moratorium date, and withdraw its objection; in return, Ronald Reagan's administration agreed not to take action under Packwood-Magnuson or Pelly.

Again, it seemed that an end to Japanese whaling was in sight. However, the court action continued, the NGOs claiming the administration had no right to make a deal with Japan.

Eventually, in June 1986, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the administration. The deal, apparently, was sealed; in return for keeping its fishing nets full, Japan would hang up its harpoons for good.

The next month, Japan formally withdrew its objection to the whaling moratorium.

Gone west

However, on the US west coast, a completely different issue was raising its head.

In a bid to develop their own industry, US fishermen were pushing for the removal of foreign access to US waters. They were aided by a coalition of 14 NGOs led by Greenpeace who went to court against Japan, claiming its fishing methods harmed porpoises, seals and birds.
The Japanese quota plummeted. From 900,000 tonnes in 1985, it halved in 1986, then fell to 104,000 tonnes the following year. In 1988, the quota was zero; an estimated 130 Japanese fishing boats had nothing to catch.

Shigeko Misaki, who worked with Japanese IWC delegations first as an interpreter and later as an advisor, recalls great anger within the Japanese government and fishing industry at the time.

"(The US) said 'we didn't promise - we just have to give more fish to our fishermen'," she says.

"Anger is the only word that can describe it - why did America have to cheat us like that?"

Within months, Japan had announced it would begin hunting whales for scientific research, a programme that continues to this day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6659401.stm

Im always amazed at the talent we display on these boards.

In a bid to develop their own industry, US fishermen were pushing for the removal of foreign access to US waters. They were aided by a coalition of 14 NGOs led by Greenpeace who went to court against Japan, claiming its fishing methods harmed porpoises, seals and birds.

The Japanese quota plummeted. From 900,000 tonnes in 1985, it halved in 1986, then fell to 104,000 tonnes the following year. In 1988, the quota was zero; an estimated 130 Japanese fishing boats had nothing to catch.

How about just addressing who is still whaling and why Japan gets all the flack?

most of the other "whaling" countries are fishing for forms of dolphins whose numbers are much higher and breeding times much horter .Iceland took 900 "pothead pilot whales" last year and Faroians, and the other countries have essentially quit.

This is why it is annoying when Japanese and South American boats come and take huge and illegal catches in our waters.....Australia IS trying to do something about it,

most of the other "whaling" countries are fishing for forms of dolphins whose numbers are much higher and breeding times much horter .Iceland took 900 "pothead pilot whales" last year and Faroians, and the other countries have essentially quit.
Japans bogus "research" is feeding a meat industry while little valuable research is even done. BUT, weve been over that again and again so its for JTT whose been resurrecting the horse

As I said, over-fishing is a digression on this thread

You're right that over-fishing is a catastrophe in waiting.

This is why it is annoying when Japanese and South American boats come and take huge and illegal catches in our waters.....Australia IS trying to do something about it, and this illegal fishing is a threat to world supplies, not just ours. (Indonesians do a lot of illegal fishing in our waters, too, but not in the environmentally catastrophic way that Japan does.)

As to the focus on the Southern Ocean....well, I don't think Australia can do a lot about the northern hemisphere whaling, except do what it can in the IWC, which it does.