Japan was on the receiving end of international backlash as it was to start its whaling campaign. So far, the Japanese government had insisted that the whale hunting was for scientific purposes. Commercial whaling has been banned ever since 1996. The Japanese whaling fleet that started its expedition started back in January. The fleet was dispatched out to sea by the Japanese government’s research institute.
Many activist groups such as Greenpeace accuse Japan of using the whaling for “scientific purposes” as a loophole to hunt whales to keep the whaling industry alive. Australia’s government had slapped Japan with an anti-whaling ban.
Japan’s whaling season was supposed to last until April. But, the whaling trip had ended much earlier than expected.
Now, Japan has “flipped the bird” to conservationists, anti-whaling activists, and anti-whaling governments. It has threatened to “start commercial whaling again.” The threat from Japan is linked from a demand of progress of the International Whaling Commission’s get together in Chile later this week.
It would seem that Japan is anxious and excited to sink its harpoons into any whale. However, there are concerns about the infrastructure of the International Whaling Commission. There are fears that the infrastructure could crumble. Some feel that the organization needs to be restructured as a forum for talk.
Relations between Japan and Australia had become tense due to the issue of whaling. At the same time, Japan’s Cetacean Research Institute has not published any valuable information. That gives off the indication that Japan is possibly using the pretense of scientific hunting as a loophole. This has many anti-whaling activists all fired up.
In a nutshell, Japan has threatened to restart whaling for commercial purposes. It seems that Japan is really itching to go whale hunting again.
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