My understanding of the situation is this:
At the end of WW2 the Americans encouraged and gave a boost to large scale Japanese whaling to feed the starving population they were now responsible for.
As a result, modern Japanese don't particularly want to eat whale meat. It's the "povo" food their grandparents had to eat after losing a war.
The commercial whaling in Japan is ongoing due to a small vocal minority lobbying for their own industry.
The vast majority of Japanese are unaware that the world feels so strongly about their whaling activities because the subject doesn't get any air/discussion time.
What does get airtime are "terrorist" activities in international waters towards ships bearing their national flag.
This turns their opinion in to one of national pride and the preservation of whales no longer factors in.
This perspective came secondhand from a Japanese person I was talking to.
If an Indian flagged vessel took these same actions towards an Australian flagged ship carrying cows because they don't believe we should be eating beef, I know I would rile up along national lines and disregard the actual discussion.
The Australian Antarctic Territory is not internationally recognised.
Wikipedia
Only the UK, NZ, France, and Norway recognise it. They also have claimed territory in Anarctica. The Southern Whale Sanctuary which extends from this unrecognised territory is also not internationally recognised which means all these shenanigans are (to the international community at large) occuring in
international waters.
The Japanese believe that whales can be consumed just like any other renewable resource and that our objections are purely idealogical.
Wikipedia
"Japan carries out its whaling in two areas: the North-West Pacific Ocean (JARPN II) and the Antarctic Ocean (JARPA) Southern Hemisphere catch. The 2007/08 JARPA mission had a quota of 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales."
American Cetacean Society
"It is thought that minke populations have increased as they started to eat the food that was previously eaten by the now-depleted large whale species. The present population worldwide is believed to be over a millions animals."
American Cetacean Society
"Precise estimates are unavailable today, but it is thought that present populations are about 40,000 in the northern hemisphere and 15,000-20,000 in the southern hemisphere, a small percentage of the original population levels."
Their argument isn't completely without merit and they are largely correct in saying that we are against whaling because we love them as beautiful creatures. Even if it were proven that their hunting is sustainable the same people against it now would most likely still be against whaling. Maybe the argument should be that they have to kill whales in a humane way. I'm sure finding a humane way to kill a 15tonne "fish" will take the economic viability out of it.
In 2007 Japan suspended their hunting of Humpback whales due to political pressure from the IWC and, I like to believe, the Australian government and public.
BBC
In light of that, I get p'd off when these "terrorists" (my opinion) use these polarising methods to protect whales which galvanises the Japanese public to support their operations more than if it were just political and grass roots pressure.
The Ady Gil cost $2.5 million dollars to construct.
Wikipedia
That's not including the costs (fuel, food, equipment, maintenance) with getting the Ady Gil and the mothership all the way down to Antarctica.
How much time on Japanese TV could that have bought to run messages outlining why the rest of the world is against whaling?
Maybe full page ads in newspapers. Maybe pay for lobbyists within the Japanese political system to increase pressure on the government.
What's the end goal of the SSCS? Sure they can say they save 100ish whales from the Japanese total quota but does this mean they plan on doing this every year forever? At no point have their actions made the Japanese think about stopping whaling. If anything it just seems to makes them more
determined to do it.
To me the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have admirable goals but arrogant and self-serving methods. In my mind, they don't just want to save whales. They want to be the knight in shining armour going off to fight evil. Grassroot and educational programs just aren't as cool.
They even have their own reality show. Whale Wars!
Whale Wars
To me that just sounds like the usual quest for glory that anything has when suffixed by the word "War". It says to me that they view the Japanese as an enemy and any notion of negotiation and compromise has ended. Your enemy's opinion no longer counts and only by vanquishing them can "right"
prevail.
I am vehemently against whaling. I think that there are enough animals on the planet that are more sustainably eaten that we can afford to leave the whales there for our conscience and aesthetic pleasure. Whales are incredibly intelligent and majestically beautiful and I think deserve to share
the world with us (I do feel that most other animals are here for my dining pleasure).
I would prefer to see the massive amounts of money used by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society every year to "terrorise" Japanese whaling vessels put to less polarising methods. Methods that have proven to have more effect as in the case with humpback whales.
- Tony