Stop Issuing “Introduction from the Sea” Certificates; Stop Distributing Sei Whale Meat

November 5th, 2018

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Takamori Yoshikawa

  • The Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) recognized by consensus that Japan’s introduction from the sea of sei whales was not in compliance with the Convention that forbids commercial distribution of species listed in the Appendix I, at its 70th meeting held in Sochi, Russia, on October 2nd.
  • At the Standing Committee, the government of Japan, acknowledging the content of the report submitted by the CITES Secretariat, committed to take remedial actions by February 2019, report the measures to be assessed by the next Standing Committee, and not authorize any certificates for introduction from the sea of sei whales.
  • Japan has harvested a total of 1622 sei whales to date from the high seas in the western North Pacific, landing approximately 1400 tons of sei whale meat every year for consumption, which are vacuum packaged and frozen onboard, in addition to specimens used for scientific research. This practice that has been in place since 2002, however, is now agreed it is a violation of the Convention.

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We Oppose Japan’s “IWC Reform” Proposal

You can download pdf file of following leaflet.: pdficon large(250KB)

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It's not culture, but the interest of the Fisheries Agency

An interpellation regarding Japanese whaling at the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries by Mr. Taro Yamamoto, a member of House of Councilors.

 

【Taro Yamamoto Official Article】

Taro Yamamoto Official Banner

Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Jun 13 2017.

 

Joint Statement NGOs call on Japanese Government to: Comply with CITES and Stop Distributing Sei Whale Meat

April 11, 2018

Prime Minister of Japan
Shinzo Abe

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Taro Kono

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
Ken Saito

Minister of Environment of Japan
Masaharu Nakagawa

 
<Background>
At the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in October 2017, the Japanese government was questioned about the legality of bringing specimens of sei whale from the sea (“introduction from the sea” defined by CITES).

Most of the member countries at the committee denounced Japan, saying that bringing sei whale meat into the country is a violation of the treaty, and that this warrants a measure such as suspension of trade. None of the members supported Japan’s claims that it does not constitute a violation of the treaty.

The final decision will be taken at the Standing Committee meeting in October 2018. By the next Committee, in order to verify whether any violation of the treaty has occurred, the Secretariat will ask additional questions of Japan regarding those Japan previously failed to answer. Upon receiving the answers, the Secretariat will dispatch an investigation team to Japan.

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Japanese NGOs urge political parties: Drop the proposed bill on Research Whaling, and stop wasting taxpayers’ money

JOIINT NGO STATEMENT

Iruka & Kujira Action Network
 Greenpeace Japan
etc

The “Bill On the Implementation of Cetacean Scientific Research for the Resumption of Commercial Whaling” (translation by IKAN) is a non-partisan bill that was first drafted by the opposition Democratic Party, but now aims to be passed by this Diet (Japanese Parliament) during their June session.

The objectives of the bill, as written, are to:

  1. Develop the Japan’s fisheries industry through implementation of commercial whaling, and
  2. Contribute to the sustainable use of marine organism resources.

However, the actual intent of the bill is to:

  1. Secure multi-year funding for research whaling
  2. Build a new whaling “mothership” to continue research whaling
  3. Roll out promotion campaigns for these specific industries using public funds, and
  4. Toughen immigration controls on foreign activists and shun global opinion.

There are two primary problems with the bill.

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