IFAW: Japan bows to pressure on humpbacks – but presses on with largest hunt since whaling ban

INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE

Press release, for immediate release

Japan bows to pressure on humpbacks – but presses on with largest hunt since whaling ban

(London, 21 December 2007) – The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), has welcomed news that humpback whales have received a temporary reprieve as the government of Japan has removed 50 humpbacks from this year’s whale hunt.

According to reports, Japan has agreed not to kill humpback whales until the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Santiago, Chile next June. Today’s announcement follows months of public and diplomatic pressure on Japan, which launched its whaling fleet on November 18.

Robbie Marsland, Director of IFAW UK, said: “While this is good news for humpbacks it doesn’t change the fact that Japan’s whaling programme continues to expand – this season it will kill more than 900 whales, including endangered species, in the Southern Ocean. Japan is doing this unlawfully under the guise of science.”

The government of Japan is currently undertaking the largest “scientific” hunt since the ban in 1986. Over the next three months Japan plans to kill 935 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales in an internationally recognised sanctuary in Antarctica.

Mr Marsland added: “The removal of humpbacks from the kill list this season amounts to an admission of wrongdoing by the government of Japan. IFAW opposes all commercial or so-called ‘scientific’ whaling because it is inhumane and unnecessary. Withdrawing wild threats isn’t enough, Japan needs to stop whaling once and for all and join the emerging global consensus for whale conservation.”

Since the imposition of a global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, Japan has killed more than 10,000 whales, claiming its whaling is conducted for scientific research purposes. Little science has been produced, while the meat from these whales is put on sale in supermarkets and restaurants.

For more information on whaling and how to help protect whales visit www.stopwhaling.co.uk

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Contact: For information, photographs or to arrange interviews, please contact Clare Sterling on 020 7587 6708, mobile 07917 507717, or email csterling@ifaw.org

Notes for Editors: Humpback whales are listed as “vulnerable” after the species was driven to near extinction by commercial whaling in the last century.