Japan calls off humpback whale cull after pressure fromAustralia...well done Oz

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3082020.ece

From Times Online
December 21, 2007
Japan calls off humpback whale cull after pressure from Australia

(Kate Davison/EPA)

The Nisshin Maru, part of the Japanese whaling fleet, harpoons a whale
in the southern Atlantic Ocean in 2006. Tokyo said that the hunt of
minkes would still continue
Leo Lewis, of The Times, Tokyo

The Japanese whaling fleet has called-off its hunt for endangered
humpbacks after mounting international pressure and passionate
criticism from Australia.

The U-turn comes as the fleet, after just a few weeks at sea, was
understood to be only days away from catching its first humpback whale
for more than 40 years.

The surprise decision will not, however, put a stop to Japan's
traditional annual hunt for minke whales - plans to land a record haul
of 1,000 minkes remain unaltered.

The climb-down follows a threat by Australia that it would consider
taking Japan to an international court in an effort to stop all
hunting once and for all.
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The whaling ships set sail from Shimonoseki in late November and the
Japanese authorities astonished activists across the globe by
revealing that as well as the usual annual catch of minkes, they were
hoping to land around 50 humpback and fin whales for the first time
since the 1960s.

Japan has grown accustomed to drawing the fury of conservationists for
its determination to hunt whales, but the decision to hunt humpbacks
unleashed an unexpected wave of condemnation.

The Australian Government, which has been by far the most vocal in its
attack on the Japanese whalers, upped the ante earlier this week when
it said it would deploy a fisheries patrol vessel to spy on the
whaling fleet.

Australia said it would also make a commercial flight over the
Southern Ocean to photograph the Japanese fleet as it conducts its
hunt. The pictures, some believe, could provide sufficient evidence to
build a court case against whaling.

Previous sabre-rattling on the issue has included hints from Canberra
that the Australian military might be brought-in to patrol the whaling-
grounds of the Southern Ocean.

But Nobutaka Machimura, the Japanese government's chief spokesman,
said today that the pursuit of humpbacks would be suspended while
talks to reform the International Whaling Commission were under way.

The issue has already entered the realm of high diplomacy, with Mr
Machimura expressing the hope that the antipathy over whaling would
not harm relations between Tokyo and Canberra.

Japan's Foreign Minister, Masahiko Komura, today repeated Tokyo's
position that the hunt is in line with international treaties: "I
would like to speak with (Australia's) foreign minister in some form
soon," he said, "we will try to seek each other's understanding."

Also unaffected is Japan's staunch defence of the hunt as "scientific"
- a euphemism that exploits a legal loophole and effectively allows
commercial whaling to be undertaken on a grand scale.

Before Friday's U-turn, Japan argued that whale stocks were easily
large enough to survive a cull of the size it was planning. Estimates
by the American Cetacean Society suggest a worldwide population of
between 30,000 to 40,000 humpback whales: the World Conservation Union
places the species two rungs below the highest risk of extinction.

Japan's position on whaling, say government insiders, stems from a
dread of having its activities on the high seas dictated by the
outside world. Among the biggest concerns is that if it concedes too
much ground on whaling, the activists' next target will be Japan's
tuna fleets.