Sea Shepherd News

Japanese Defenses on Whaling Are Cracking

Behind Japan's outspoken and irrational defense of whaling there is an undercurrent of dissent within the Japanese establishment.

This week the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Tomohiko Taniguchi,  the official voice of Japan for the last three years has expressed his views on Japan's controversial whaling activities.

Taniguchi was the voice for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. His role was to speak to the international media every day. He reports that of the hundreds of matters he had to deal with, that the one he dreaded most was defending Japanese whaling programs. It was part of his job to defend official policy.

"I was being summoned by CNN, BBC and ABC on this issue far more than any other issue," Taniguchi says. "I hated this issue because there's no point in Japan sticking to its position."

Today Taniguchi is an adviser to Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs. But, since July, he is no longer an employed official, so he is free to speak his mind. And he does.

At the same time this may be officially Japan feeling the waters using Taniguchi's big toe.

"The Japanese whaling industry generates revenues of 7.5 billion yen a  year, which is $120 million at the current exchange rate. It's tiny."

Japan's economy, the world's second biggest, has an annual output of 515 trillion yen or $8.2 trillion. So whaling accounts for 0.0014 per cent of the national economy. Or less than one-tenth the value of the country's annual market for toothbrushes.

And the total number of people who derive a living from whaling, including dependents, is between one and several thousands in a country of 130 million.

"Japan has nil national interest in the whaling industry," Taniguchi continues," The stake for Japan is near zero. If Australians criticise the Japanese auto industry, Japan must do everything possible to  protect the auto industry. This is not the auto industry."

Scott West Takes His Case to the Wall Street Journal

Sea Shepherd's new chief of investigations and intelligence, Scott West has given the following interview with the Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122706017166039657.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

NOVEMBER 18, 2008, 9:07 P.M. ET

Ex-EPA Official Faults Probe of BP Alaska Oil Spill.

Head of Investigation Claims Justice Department Ended Inquiry Into 2006 Incidents Early, Forgoing Possible Felony Charges

By JIM CARLTON

The former head of an EPA criminal probe into pipeline spills at a BP PLC oil field in Alaska claims the Justice Department prematurely shut down the investigation and settled with the company for less than the case may have warranted.

The Environmental Protection Agency in early 2007 considered seeking penalties of as much as $672 million and possible felony charges against BP for the 2006 spills, depending on what the probe uncovered, the former EPA official and EPA agree. The possible fine was based on variables such as how much money BP saved by not performing pipeline maintenance.

BP admitted in October 2007 to the lack of maintenance in a plea agreement to a lesser misdemeanor charge. It agreed in federal court in Alaska to plead guilty to the misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act, to be fined $20 million and to serve three years probation.

Scott West, a former special agent-in-charge of the EPA's criminal-investigation division in Seattle who supervised a team of investigators, said he needed as much as another year to determine if, in fact, "there was sufficient evidence to charge BP with a felony." Mr. West said his agents still had large volumes of evidence to go through to make that determination.

Japanese whale killers have left for the Whale Sanctuary

And so it begins.

The Yakusa owned and controlled Japanese whaling fleet has left Japan in a very low key manner, without the traditional celebratory send-off, with fewer crewmembers and with less support than years before. They are also departing on the threshold of a major recession in the Japanese economy.

And as President Bill Clinton once said, "It's the economy stupid."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin is scheduled to depart at the end of November which should put both the whaling fleet and the Sea Shepherd crew on a course that will bring them together somewhere in the remote and hostile waters off the Antarctic coast in mid-December.

"We have them on the ropes economically," said Captain Paul Watson. "We intend to make this yet another year of profit loss for the whalers. It is the one language they understand and it is the only thing that is going to shut down whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary."

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced that Australia will invest millions into whale research to prove that non-lethal methods are sufficient and that Japan does not need to employ lethal research to secure their research objectives.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society certainly supports any non-lethal research that will further our understanding of the great whales but does not think that Australia's initiative will convince Japan to cease their slaughter.