!sse 31 Whales

Artist - Kaipo

 
The NZ Conservation Minister said anti-whaling nations struggled to comprehend Japan's rationale for continuing whaling. "There is no financial value in it, there is certainly no science in it, so it has to be a twisted nationalism."
Japan continues to demand an end to sanctuaries, and an abolition of the Moratorium to allow a return to commercial hunting. Following Japan’s example, Norway and Iceland have also resumed whaling in the Northern Hemisphere in recent years, killing hundreds of Minke whales, along with Fin and Sei whales (both species listed as ‘Endangered’ i.e. facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future).
At the 2006 IWC meeting Japan managed to (buy enough support to) win the vote declaring that the Moratorium on Commercial Whaling is unnecessary and blaming whales for depleting the world's fish stocks.
Following this success, Japan announced its plans to expand its whaling effort to kill the following numbers whales per year, beginning in the 2006-07 season:
In the Antarctic:
Double their current Minke whale kill to 935
50 Humpback whales [the total population estimated to pass through New Zealand waters is only 2000!] (species listed as ‘Vulnerable’ i.e. facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future)
up to 50 Fin whales (species listed as ‘Endangered’ i.e. facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future)
In the North Pacific:
220 Minke whales
50 Bryde’s whales (species listed as ‘Unknown Status’ due to lack of data)
50 Sei whales (species listed as ‘Endangered’ ie. facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future)
10 sperm whales (species listed as ‘Vulnerable’ ie. facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future)