The Shonan Maru collides with the Ady Gill.
So Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has finally given the Japanese a deadline to end the whaling practice in the Southern Ocean by November or else….
Or else what exactly? Mr Rudd has said he will take Japan to the International Court of Justice, but does he really think he has a chance of winning a court case against the Japanese? After all, they’ve been exploiting a loophole in the law for years now and getting clean away with it.
But Mr Rudd has come under increasing pressure to act after his stance on whaling seemingly weakened after the election. Back in 2007 Mr Rudd made his position on whaling very clear: “I wish to make a powerful and clear message to the Australian public that Labor believes in enforcing Australian law, this the right and obvious thing to do.” Under domestic Australian law, whaling of any kind in Australian waters is forbidden.
However, this is part of the loophole that Japan exploits, many countries, Japan among them, do not recognise Australia’s claim to Antarctica and Antartic waters and the matter is far from clear under international law.
Japan also insists that the whales it kills – over 600 from Antarctica every year – are for scientific research and it is merely coincidence that the meat ends up on the restaurant menu.
Mr Rudd’s strong stance at the time brought him applause from the Australian public and more crucially, voters for the Federal Election.
Since Mr Rudd won the election however, there has been little action to stop the Japanese whaling fleets from entering Australian waters. In fact back in October 2009 the Australian Department of Immigration even denied anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a visa and preventing his bosun, British Dan Bebawi, from travelling to Australia by preventing him from boarding the plane at Heathrow, claiming his visa was no longer valid. At the time the DIAC responded by denying that they were withholding or delaying Australian visas for any of the anti-whaling activists.
Then back in January the anti-whaling speedboat the Ady Gil was sunk in a collision with Japanese whaling ship. Paul Watson alleged at the time that the sinking was deliberate. Then earlier this month the Bob Barker ship was also allegedly rammed by another Japanese harpoon ship.
New Zealander Peter Bethune boarded the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru this month in protest over the sinking of the Ady Gill, he is demanding a $3 million compensation from the Japanese who say they’ll prosecute him for piracy.
The government then criticised the heavy-handedness of the Japanese towards the Sea Shepherd group and again insisted that they were committed to the prevention of whaling in their seas: “We remain absolutely and completely opposed to killing whales in the name of science,” said Peter Garrett, the Australian Conservation Minister.
So will Australia win a possible court case against Japan? Well they need a 75% majority from the International Court of Justice in order to win their case and may need the support of New Zealand to strengthen their case. An easier solution would be a diplomatic one and Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada arrived in Australia on Saturday for talks on a possible compromise. However Japan’s Fisheries Minister has already revealed their compromise – a scaling back of the killing of whales for scientific research in return for the resumption of commercial whaling in Japanese waters. Not a compromise the anti-whaling crowd would consider but one that Australia might as it moves the problem from their waters – a Pontius Pilate solution if Mr Rudd were to accept it.
With an election on the horizon for Mr Rudd, it would be interesting to see what, if anything, is achieved.
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5 Responses to “Australia Takes Strong Stance Over Whaling Issue”
Comment by ddpalmer — February 21, 2010 @ 7:26 pm
A few corrections to this article.
Most countries don’t recognize Austarlia’s claim to Antarctica and Antarctic waters. Not a few. The few is the countries that do recognize the claim which is about 4.
The Japanese take about 600 whales in Antarctica a year not 300.
And the excess meat ends up in restaurants and grocery stores because the research permit under which they do their whaling requires that the excess meat be sold to offset the cost of research.
Comment by Lisa Valentine — February 23, 2010 @ 8:15 am
Thank you for your corrections, you are right that 4 countries currently do not recognise Australia’s claim to Antarctic waters and that my phrase ‘a few’ therefore could be misleading. The figure of 300 whales a year I’m afraid was a typo – last year Japan caught around 800 whales, less than their quota.
As for the whale meat, I merely state that most of the whale meat ends up in restaurants, which is correct. The reader can deduce the reasons for this themselves since the topic is up for debate.
I shall amend the article accordingly – thanks for spotting my deliberate mistakes!
Comment by watching — February 24, 2010 @ 12:21 am
Be careful Lisa, ddpalmer posts nonstop on all the sea shepherd articles that come out on ecorazzi as well. No one respects the propaganda he spews for the Japanese whaling fleet.
Comment by watching — February 24, 2010 @ 12:22 am
Also,
Captain Paul Watson got into Australia just fine. It’s the Japanese whaling fleet that is banned from entering ports in Australia
Comment by ddpalmer — February 24, 2010 @ 11:46 am
Well ‘watching’ obviously Lisa has her own mind and actually read my comments. Because she admits she got her numbers wrong and I got them right.
Sorry about the egg on your face.