(JP)Fishery official defends description of minke whales as cockroaches of sea

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010720b6.htm

 

Fishery official defends description of minke whales

as cockroaches of sea

 

LONDON (Kyodo) A senior Japanese fishery official on

Wednesday defended his description of minke whales as

" the cockroaches of the sea. "

Masayuki Komatsu, a counselor at the Fisheries Agency,

said his remark was intended to convey that campaigns

by antiwhaling countries to protect minke whales are

wrongheaded, given that there are 760,000 of them in

the Antarctic Ocean.

 

Komatsu labeled minke whales as " the cockroaches of

the sea " in a recent interview on Australian

television.

 

His remark provoked a stream of protests, particularly

from New Zealand, which is one of the antiwhaling

nations in question.

 

" I have repeatedly referred to the comparison in the

past two or three years. I feel some malice by those

who have protested against the remark, given the

timing of their action, " said Komatsu, who is in

London for the annual meeting of the International

Whaling Commission.

 

The meeting has been in session since July 3.

 

Komatsu also rebuffed news reports about his

acknowledgment that Japan has used official

development assistance to influence Caribbean nations

on the whaling issue.

 

" What I said was ODA is one tool to have Japan's

principles and views understood, " he said.

 

The reports intentionally did not mention that Japan

provides more ODA to antiwhaling countries, he said.

 

Earlier Wednesday in Tokyo, the Fisheries Agency

defended Komatsu's remark, saying the cockroach

allusion was intended to illustrate that minke whales

are highly fertile.

 

The remark was merely a reference to the fact that

minke whales have strong fertility and are not facing

any danger of extinction, agency official Shiro Yuge

said.

 

The Japan Times: July 20, 2001

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