Congratulations to Peru! No more trading in Cetacean flesh. Sei whales hunt planned last year!

Having got rid of its Japanese President, Peru has now ended trade in cetacean flesh.

Japan to extend whale hunts again. But Peru is no longer a market

From WDCS Thursday, February 28, 2002

On the same day that conservationists celebrate Peru´s decision to relinquish its right to import and export whale products, they are 'horrified' to learn that Japan is to extend its hunts of whales to yet another protected species. Peru has just announced that it has withdrawn the legal 'Reservation' which exempted it from the ban on trade in whale products imposed by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This now means that Peru accepts the prohibition on trade and is no longer a potential market place for whale products from the two renegade whaling nations - Norway and Japan.

Although Peru had confirmed that whales are protected from hunting in Peruvian waters, conservationists remained concerned that Peru might have been planning to use its CITES reservations to start trade in whale products. Fears heightened in January this year, when Norway named Peru as a possible candidate for the import of Norwegian whale products.

On confirmation of Peru's decision Niki Entrup, spokesperson for WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said, 'We congratulate Peru for its decision and are pleased that such a clear rejection has been expressed to those countries that are lobbying to undermine international decisions to protect cetaceans'.

Meanwhile WDCS also reports that Japan is planning to expand its whale hunts to sei whales, despite a ban on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986, and additional protection afforded to sei whales - the third largest whale species. The sei whale population was so decimated by years of commercial whaling that the IWC declared it protected in 1976.

Reports suggest that Japan will expand its existing hunt of 100 minke whales in the North Pacific (conducted through a loophole in the IWC's rules that permits whaling for scientific research) by 50 minke and 50 sei whales. Because Japan's scientific whaling fleet will be busy hunting 450 minke in Antarctica at the time planned for the expanded North Pacific hunt, the extra minke whales will be apparently be killed by boats from four coastal communities who have not hunted whales for many years.

Last year, Japanese whalers killed a sei whale, allegedly 'by accident', in its Antarctic hunt. WDCS's Kate O'Connell now believes that it is more likely that the accident was a practice run. 'Japan resumed hunting of sperm whales two years ago, but has been unable to sell any of their meat because of high levels of contaminants. Furthermore a third of all the whale meat from the last hunts remains unsold'. Kate O Connell added 'Japanese authorities have recently launched a promotional campaign to encourage consumers to eat more whale meat. But what will it take to stimulate demand for the extra thousands of tonnes of meat that these 100 additional whales will yield?'

Alarm at Japan's proposed expansion is likely be to be a focus at the forthcoming IWC meeting in May in Shimonoseki, Japan. Conservationists are expecting the whaling nations to make an all-out attempt to bully the IWC into agreeing to lift the ban on commercial whaling. Yet, this development is just one more in a litany of examples of Japan's bad faith - casting serious doubt over its intentions to abide by any rules that might be agreed by the IWC.

Nice to see you have finally learnt how to spell Cetacean Geoff.

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That article was filled with so much nonsense it isn't worth responding to

Aaaah, I see, it was from WDCS

Cetecean! Cetecean! Cetecean! The 'e' is inserted to remind all, of the enemy, the whalers (destroyers), who insert themselves between trust and compassion, empathy and the eternal, to hunt to extinction the creatures who put the 'can' in ocean, who make the whole system of life in the Ocean function and develop, who can and do - without whom the seas will die.

How many whales were there in the Oceans at the end of the 19th Century before the mass industrialisation of whaling and fishing took place? The fisheries were very healthy despite centuries of predation by mankind on whales and fish alike.

How many are there now relatively, and in what condition? I suspect, comparatively, that the population of Scotland, 5 million, being reduced to that of Paisley, 100,000, would not be far off the mark, a level where the business of sustaining 'Scottishness' could become very difficult. Fisheries have collapsed, the sea are dying, Japan is chasing after the last mackeral with a monstrous fleet. Paradoxically this can only be reversed by sparing the last of the whales, and stopping the drift to extinction by cleaning up the seas. Get a life, debiddo, and one for your countrymen and your descendants. Preserve the whales, rehabilitate the seas and ultimately secure the future of the human race with regard to food supply. Renounce the wickedness and blindness of the Japanese whaling industrial complex and, get a life!

Excellent article Geoff. Glad that another country is saying NO to whaling and whale products. The more the market dries up, the less greed motive for whalers.

Richard Hayduke Lives! 'By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.' Albert Schweitzer