TOKYO: Japanese whalers will set out for Antarctic this week as Institute of Cetacean Research plans to conduct non-lethal research on whales
The Institute of Cetecean Research (ICR) is sending boats back to the Antarctic tomorrow for a programme that “involves techniques such as sighting surveys and biopsy sampling”.
Speaking to ONE News from the South Indian Ocean, Sea Shepherd Captain Peter Hammarstedt said it was “just a show” for the international community.
“We would welcome a non-lethal year if it was extended to the entire whaling programme, but it’s not. The Japanese government is only taking a one-year hiatus,” he said.
“It’s using the data collected this year for the lethal season the following year. It’s a reconnaissance job and it has to be seen as part of a greater criminal conspiracy on the part of the Japanese government.”
In March 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled Japan’s whaling was illegal.
And despite the removal of harpoons on Japanese vessels, the Sea Shepherd group says it’s ready to “physically shut down” the whaling fleet if it has to.
“The fact that they plan to return to lethal whaling the following year shows that this is all just commercial whaling in disguise as scientific whaling.”
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