The Obama administration sent a firm message of condemnation to Japan Monday, opposing the nation’s plan to resume whale hunting in Antarctica while standing up for activists such as Greenpeace.
The U.S. was joined by Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand in sending a joint statement of condemnation to Japan, underscoring that confrontations between activists and Japanese whalers run the risk of human casualties in the dangerous and remote Southern Ocean.
“The governments of Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States jointly condemn any actions at sea that may cause injury, loss of human life or damage to property or the marine environment during Southern Ocean whaling operations in 2016,” the joint statement reads.
“Dangerous, reckless or unlawful behavior jeopardizes not only the safety of whaling and protest vessels and their crews but also anyone who comes to their assistance,” the statement reads.
Incidents in previous hunting seasons have demonstrated the danger. Greenpeace, a major anti-whaling proponent through its “Save the Whales” campaign, says Japan is one of three countries that kill thousands of whales yearly in violation of a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. The other countries that have routinely violated the ban included Norway and Iceland.
Activist groups use pursuit boats to get between the whales and the whalers. Japanese whalers have collided and destroyed activist-owned pursuit boats in recent years and have taken other aggressive actions to repel the pursuit boats.
“We reiterate our call to the masters of all vessels involved to uphold their responsibility to ensure safety at sea, including ensuring that international collision avoidance regulations are observed in order to avoid the risk of loss of life or injury and damage to property or the marine environment,” the statement says.
The U.S., along with many other nations, has signed onto an international treaty banning whaling. Japan has since skirted that treaty by continuing to hunt large whales in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, claiming the kills are being done in a limited way as part of scientific research.
Japan stopped the hunts last year after an international tribunal ruled against its whale hunting program. Although this year’s hunt will be considerably scaled back, the U.S. and the other countries issuing Monday’s statement say Japan should stop completely.
On Monday, the message was just as clear. “Our governments remain resolutely opposed to commercial whaling, in particular in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary established by the International Whaling Commission,” the joint statement reads.
“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.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took that message to Japan last month during a one-day visit. He told reporters there that he was “very disappointed” with the nation’s decision to continue the hunt.
