Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand intervening) – Judgment of 31 March 2014

Breaching Whale
Source: The Australian

Final and without appeal-

The Court therefore will order that Japan shall revoke any extant authorization, permit or licence to kill, take or treat whales in relation to JARPA II, and refrain from granting any further permits under Article VIII, paragraph 1, of the Convention, in pursuance of that programme.

International  Court of Justice – The Hague

Quite simply the most stunning of results.

Those that know the work of Roger Payne will be smiling. I hope Roger hears this.

Songs of the Humpback Whale [National Geographic] was released in the early 1970’s and had a profound impact on how we perceived the world of Cetacea and the implications for all future management.

I know at least one young boy in 1970 that was forever struck by such findings.

Links:

 

About The Author

2 Comments

  1. I am deeply disappointed at this judgment and Australia and the New Zealand government.

    Japan’s whaling is research whaling and is not commercial whaling. General public will not be able to buy the whale meat.

    The population decline of whale, the impact of overfishing by European countries is large. And, Iceland and Norway, has continued to commercial whaling still.
    They are attacking only Japan. They are attacking by using peace-loving nation(Japan).

    • Hello Kenya,

      Yes, I understand how disappointed you may be. This has been a difficult debate. I am pleased that both Japan and Australia agreed to comply with the final ruling of the International Court.

      The Court agreed that the whaling was not considered research. I think this is important in the final ruling.

      Commercial Whaling and Scientific whaling are very different. I don’t consider this an attack on Japan but rather the type of whaling that cannot be considered scientific research.

      Kind regards

      Bill

Share your thoughts...

Close