Research Whaling: Heading Towards Nationalization
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- Created on Monday, 04 February 2013 09:20
Junko Sakuma
(Freelance writer)
(Lead paragraph)
Although the news of the disaster recovery fund (the third supplementary budget for the 2011 fiscal year) inappropriately spent on research whaling finally caught the public’s attention and garnered criticism, the media reported the diverted allocation as a fund for “obstruction countermeasures (against Sea Shepherd),” which is not an accurate description of the actual situation. What really happened was that the money was mostly spent on covering the deficits of research whaling.
Misappropriation aside, this means that whale meat sales still have not improved.
In this issue, we unravel the ICR’s financial statements and the reform proposal they crafted for securing a new money source.
You can read more by the following PDF file.
(540KB)
Joint Statement - "Please Terminate Research Whaling"
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- Created on Sunday, 09 December 2012 12:27
Please Terminate Research Whaling
Prime Minister Kunihiko Noda
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Akira Gunji
Despite the recent criticism on the inappropriate use of the additional recovery fund from the third supplementary budget, research whaling, the operation we have long been questioning, managed to avert attention, and the whaling fleet is said to soon depart for the Antarctic Ocean for this term's quota. We request the end to research whaling and inappropriate measures being taken to impel research whaling. Below is our five demands and reasons:
A Request an End to Research Whaling and the Inappropriate Use of Tax Money
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- Created on Thursday, 27 September 2012 11:11
Letter of Request
September 26, 2012
A Request an End to Research Whaling and the Inappropriate Use of Tax Money
The earthquake and tsunami last March destroyed many local communities and have left a deep scar on the region. Despite various support extended from inside and outside Japan to rebuild the affected areas, their recovery is still far from completion. During such a difficult time, we learned and pointed out that 2.3 billion yen of the recovery fund, money supposed to be allocated to the recovery of disaster-hit areas, was going into research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean - far from North East Japan. We sent a protest letter requesting the money be spent appropriately. Unfortunately, the government of Japan is still conducting research whaling with 2.3 billion yen of our taxpayers’ money, with the definite use yet to be clarified.
We Request for an Urgent Review and the Return of Disaster Recovery Fund Used on Research Whaling
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- Created on Monday, 08 October 2012 23:37
We Request for an Urgent Review and the Return of Disaster Recovery Fund Used on Research Whaling
October 5, 2012
CC: The Disaster Recovery Ministry, the House of Representatives Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration, and the Fisheries Agency
The earthquake and tsunami last March destroyed many local communities and have left a deep scar on the region. Despite various support extended from inside and outside Japan to rebuild the affected areas, their recovery is still far from completion. During such a difficult time, we learned and pointed out that 2.28 billion yen of the recovery fund, money supposed to be allocated to the recovery of disaster-hit areas, was going into research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean - far from North East Japan. We sent a protest letter to the Fisheries Agency requesting the recovery money be spent on support for the effected areas, but we still have not heard from the agency about the details of how 2.28 billion yen of our taxpayers’ money is spent.
Open Letter on Continuation of Research Whaling by Applying “Profitable Fisheries.”
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- Created on Sunday, 26 August 2012 10:47
An open letter from IKAN regarding the support for research whaling using the 'the profitable fisheries' scheme.
Open Letter on Continuation of Research Whaling by Applying “Profitable Fisheries.”
Dear Mr. Sato,
According to the July 20th issue of Minato Newspaper, the Fisheries Agency “revealed a policy that would apply the Fisheries Structural Reform and Comprehensive Measures Project (the Profitable Fisheries Support Project)* to help stabilize the implementation of the research whaling program” at the meeting on July 19th held by the association of Liberal Democratic Diet members who support whaling. Also mentioned in the media was that the research whaling practicing body (Institute of Cetacean Research) said it would start working on the logistics, including renovating research vessels for energy-saving and cost-saving measures.
