Wellington, Thursday 2 May 2002: Greenpeace today called on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, visiting New
Zealand for bilateral discussions, to stop his country's whaling industry.
“Whaling is an unnecessary and unsustainable industry. The Japanese Government has spent more than Y40 billion in
subsidies to the whaling industry and in buying votes with foreign aid at the International Whaling Commission (IWC),”
said Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner Sarah Duthie.
“Greenpeace is calling on Prime Minister Koizumi to save face and stop whaling. Why waste money on a dying industry that
only makes Japan unpopular in the rest of the world?”
The Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) is campaigning for a resumption of commercial whaling in the lead up to the annual
IWC meeting in the Japanese whaling town of Shimonoseki this month.
The FAJ has embarked upon an aggressive marketing campaign to increase the demand for whale meat, including free whale
meat tastings. There is virtually no market for whale meat in Japan except as a luxury food.
“FAJ public relations spokespeople say that whaling is part of Japanese food culture, and the rest of the world has no
right to tell Japan what to do. Our argument is not with the Japanese or their food culture, our argument is with the
FAJ. The truth is whaling has always led to depletion of whale populations, and Japanese whaling has followed the same
destructive course as other whaling nations,” said Duthie.
Greenpeace and New Zealanders opposed to whaling will gather outside the Duxton Hotel on Wakefield St where Mr Koizumi
is staying, between 6:00-7:40pm.
Ends