JAPANESE HUNT IS ON AGAIN...........

[Guest guest]

THE HUNT IS ON AGAIN........

 

JAPAN DOLPHIN KILLING FROM OCTOBER TO APRIL

 

 

October 23, 2000

 

JAPAN'S DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER IS ON AGAIN

- Officials instruct: " Keep out of public view "

 

 

The slaughter of dolphins by Japanese fishermen for sale to

commercial markets for human and domestic animal consumption

resumed this month.

 

Warned by the Japan Fisheries Agency to " keep dolphin killings

out of public view, " those conducting the " drive fisheries " at coastal

towns once waited until after dark to herd dolphins into shore, trap

them in nets and slaughter them, and claimed the dolphins had

beached themselves. In October 1999, Japan's Whale and Dolphin

Action Network (IKAN), caught a daylight dolphin drive on videotape

at the port of Futo. When the tape was shown at the annual meeting

of the International Whaling Commission in Adelaide, Australia,

last June, the Japanese delegation walked out.

 

" Japan's dolphin hunt kicked into high gear in 1986, the year the ban

on commercial whaling went into effect, " said Paul Watson, president

of Sea Shepherd International. " Japan is steadily hunting its coastal

cetacean populations to extinction. By 1995, a single species -- Dall's

porpoise -- was being taken at a rate of 17,000 per year. Hundreds

of boats are licensed to kill, and they have severely depleted,

in sequence, populations of striped dolphins, pilot whales, beaked

whales, and Dall's porpoise. "

 

The crossbow and hand harpoon fishery kills 10,0000-15,000

dolphins and porpoises annually. The drive fisheries, killing

1,000-2,000 dolphins, are driven by the dolphin captivity industry,

which pays fishermen up to $30,000 each for a few live dolphins

for aquariums and amusement parks, with the rest of the captured

pods consigned to slaughter. The hunts take place every year

between October and April.

 

A recent Environmental Investigation Agency report revealed that

Japan has killed more than 400,000 dolphins and small cetaceans

over the last 20 years.

 

" There's no control and no enforcement, " said Andrew Christie,

information director for Sea Shepherd International. " Japan routinely

ignores resolutions by the International Whaling Commission to

at least reduce the slaughter to the point where its numbers do not

threaten the existence of the targeted species. The federal

government passes along responsibility for quota enforcement to the

local prefectures where the drive hunts take place, and the prefectures

pass responsibility to the fishing cooperatives, which consist of the

fishermen who do the killing. They promptly report to the government

that they are not killing too many dolphins. "

 

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ACTIONS TO TAKE :

 

1: Send a fax to Japan Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori:

(0) 81-3-5511-8855

 

2: or send him an e-mail from this website:

http://www.iijnet.or.jp/sorifu/kantei/foreign/comment.html

 

Also send to :

ldp Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

 

 

3: Fax the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC:

(202) 265-9482 (in USA).

 

 

FOR US CITIZENS :

 

Convey your support and Thanks to Rep. Bill Delahunt, for

introducing the resolution in the House of Representatives

calling on President Clinton not to support Japan's bid to gain

a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council unless it stops

whaling.

 

Please urge him to :

 

Add language opposing Japan's unsustainable dolphin slaughter.

 

Congressman Bill Delahunt

1317 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-3111

Fax: (202) 225-5658 (in U.S.A.)

Email:

william.delahunt

 

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The above information comes from :

 

Sea Shepherd International

P.O. Box 2616

Friday Harbor, WA 98250

(360) 370-5500

http://www.seashepherd.org

seashepherd