Australia Confronts Japan On Whaling In Historic Hague Case

Australia has called Japan to account for its openly fraudulent claims of scientific research as an exception to the moratorium on whaling. Australia accused Japan in the International Court of Justice in The Hague of commercial whaling in using the claim of research to kill hundreds of whales every year in the Southern Ocean.

Killing whales to carry out essential scientific research is allowed under a 1946 treaty on whaling.

Japan admits to killing 815 minke whales in the Antarctic every year.

Australia says more than 10,000 whales have been killed since the start of the moratorium. In the meantime, environmental and academic figures have uniformly rejected the claims of scientific research by the Japanese. The other bad actor internationally is Norway, which has refused to even sign the moratorium.

What is particularly perverse is that Japan has an over-supply of whale meat because of changing Japanese attitudes. The government is actually trying to revive interest in whale dishes. As the Japanese slaughter whales in places like the Southern Ocean, there is a 6000 ton surplus piled up at home.

Australia is doing a service for the entire world in confronting Japan in the Hague. The level of dishonesty in the Japanese claim is matched only by the cruelty of its practices in the Southern Ocean.

Source: Scientific American