In response to Japan's escalating whaling program that now threatens to kill endangered fin and humpback whales, the Humane Society of the United States recently sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M. Gutierrez, asking him to initiate a process that would allow President Bush to impose trade sanctions against Japan for conducting large-scale whale hunting in blatant disregard for the international ban on commercial whaling. While Japan's whale hunting is allegedly conducted for scientific purposes, its whaling program is a de facto commercial operation since the meat is sold on the open market.
The HSUS letter, sent February 21, urges Secretary Gutierrez to certify Japan under Section 8 of the Fishermen's Protection Act of 1962 (known as the Pelly Amendment) for undermining the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on commercial whaling, which went into effect in 1986. The United States, which has previously certified Japan three times since 1986 for its large-scale whaling operations, has been noticeably mum about the island nation's most recent plan to greatly expand its take of minke whales as well as to start killing fin and humpback whales. In fact, the Bush Administration recently declined to join 17 other pro-conservation countries in a diplomatic demarche sent to the government of Japan, calling on the country to end its lethal whaling program.
"To this day Japan continues to hunt whales under the guise of science and sell the meat commercially," The HSUS's President and CEO Wayne Pacelle wrote to the secretary. "Japan’s whaling demonstrates indifference to world opinion and blatant disregard of the global moratorium on commercial whaling. Strong measures are in order."
Commercial Whaling in Disguise
One year after the international moratorium on commercial whaling went into effect, Japan resumed hunting whales. Since then, the country has continued to add numbers and species to its hunt, including endangered species. Japan started with a "sample" size of 300 minke whales, all hunted in the Antarctic Ocean. In 1995, the Japanese government added 140 more minkes in the Antarctic and then added 100 minkes in the north Pacific Ocean. In 2000, Japan added another 100 minke whales, plus 50 Bryde's whales and 10 sperm whales to the north Pacific hunt. In 2002, Japan added another 50 minke whales and 50 sei whales in the north Pacific. And last year, Japan truly tested conservationists' patience when it added another 410 minkes, plus 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales (both of which are endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act) to its Antarctic program. (In this first season, Japan intends to kill 10 fins, but the full sample size will not be hunted until 2007.)
How can Japan get away with its large-scale whaling program in the face of an international moratorium? In a word: loophole. The IWC allows member countries to unilaterally issue special permits to conduct lethal whaling for scientific research and does not prohibit countries from selling the whale meat commercially. Yet, many doubt the scientific validity of Japan's whaling program; in fact, given the quality of the Japanese research results and its publication record, most scientists and the majority of IWC member countries consider the country's research program to be nothing more than a commercial whale hunt in disguise.
Since Japan began hunting whales under its so-called scientific program, IWC member countries have passed at least 19 resolutions calling on the country to end its whaling. Conservationist-minded countries have objected to Japan's whaling program on several fronts. Aside from the lack of quality science produced from the hunts, conservationists point out that some of Japan's whaling is conducted in an IWC-designated whale sanctuary. Along these lines, HSI Australia, an office under The HSUS's Humane Society International, is pursuing a lawsuit against the company with which the Japanese government contracts to conduct hunts in waters protected by Australian law.
A few conservationist groups also say there is absolutely no humane way to kill a whale; each hunted whale likely suffers a slow, painful death. What's more, no conservation-minded IWC member nation can fathom why Japan continues to push its whaling agenda. There is no real demand for whale meat in Japan. In fact, there's an excess of whale meat on the Japanese market, thanks to increased whaling and scientific evidence showing that whale meat is often contaminated. To reduce its inventory of stockpiled whale meat, the Japanese government has subsidized a program to add this food to school lunches. The meat is even used as a byproduct in pet food.
Some speculate that Japan now wants to hunt other species, such as fin and humpback, because the meat may be less contaminated and more desirable to Japanese consumers. Whatever the reason, Japan refuses to stop killing whales, and the IWC has no way to force the country to end its abuse of the special permit provision. Japan firmly dismisses all diplomatic attempts from the United States and other countries to end the slaughter. Even worse, Japan continues to push for a lifting of the IWC ban on commercial whaling.
Pelly Amendment to the Rescue
The HSUS has asked Secretary Gutierrez to initiate the Pelly Amendment of the Fishermen's Protection Act, because the law is one of the most effective weapons that the United States has to combat rogue whaling. Under the Pelly Amendment, the U.S. secretary of commerce certifies to the president when nationals of foreign countries are conducting fishing operations that diminish the effectiveness of an international conservation program. The act requires the secretary periodically to monitor and promptly investigate activities of foreign nationals that may affect these international programs. Upon receipt of certification, the president may direct the secretary of the treasury to prohibit the importation of any products from the offending country for a duration the president determines.
The United States has certified Japan three times—in 1988, 1995, and 2000—for undermining the IWC's ban on commercial whaling with its large-scale annual whale hunts. And yet, despite the United States' firm policy against these Japanese hunts, no U.S. president has ever issued trade sanctions against Japan.
The United States is in a unique position among IWC member nations, because the Pelly Amendment provides the U.S. government with a legal mechanism to apply economic sanctions against offending countries like Japan. Though the United States has maintained a firm policy against all commercial and scientific whaling, the government has failed to take a strong stand against it, most recently seen with the United States' failure to join the diplomatic demarche. The time for U.S. reticence has long passed.
"It is critical for the pro-conservation countries within the IWC to show solidarity and present a united front," says Kitty Block, director of Treaty Law, Oceans, and Wildlife Protection for HSI. "The United States must take strong actions to show Japan that the American public will not sit idly by while whales are brutally slaughtered."
What You Can Do:
Write to Secretary Gutierrez and urge him to certify Japan and recommend that President Bush impose trade sanctions against the country for its continued disregard for the international ban on commercial whaling. This may be the last hope for ending the senseless killing of whales.
