- TOKYO (AP) -- In a cramped
laboratory, a biologist with the Institute of Cetacean Research prepares
plugs taken from whales' ears for age analysis. Scientists study their
reproductive habits, food sources, and the mercury levels in their tissue.
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- And then, of course, there's the guy who studies the
best way to kill them.
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- For nearly two decades, as commercial whaling has largely
vanished under a global ban, a half-dozen Japanese vessels have sailed
off to the waters of Antarctica and the northwestern Pacific each year
to hunt, kill and bring home samples of whales for an ongoing research
program ó along with tonnes of meat for sale.
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- Possibly no Japanese government-backed activity has so
isolated Tokyo from its allies in the United States and Europe, or so enraged
environmental groups.
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- At this institute, which serves as the heart of the operation,
officials bristle at the suggestion they are doing anything wrong. Instead,
they argue that they are fighting the good fight, and that the whaling
ban is akin to Hindus' forcing the world to stop eating beef, or Muslims'
banning pork.
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- Government negotiators are even more strident.
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- "Why should we back down?" said Shuya Nakatsuka,
a Fisheries Agency official in charge of Japan's international whaling
agreements. "It is those who oppose whaling who should change."
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- Tokyo's push for a resumption of commercial whaling will
likely once again put it in the hot seat when the International Whaling
Commission holds its annual convention in Italy in June.
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- Last year's meeting ended with a resolution for Japan
to halt its research program. That generated angry calls in Tokyo for the
country to retaliate by quitting the group, or at least withholding funds.
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- "We are still considering our options," Mr.
Nakatsuka said. "We will have to see how the meeting goes."
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- The research fleet, meanwhile, is readying its harpoons.
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- The Nisshin Maru mothership, accompanied by a trawler
and sighting-sampling vessels, will set off May 13 on its annual summer
hunt in the northwestern Pacific to kill 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales,
50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales. Another 50 minke whales will be hunted
along Japan's shores.
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- Earlier this year, the fleet returned from the Antarctic,
where it killed about 400 minke whales.
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- The primary goals of the research are to determine how
many whales are out there, how long they live, how quickly they breed,
what they eat and - ultimately - how many could be killed commercially
without significantly depleting their stocks.
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- Hiroshi Hatanaka, who heads the program, said that whenever
possible, data is taken with non-lethal methods, such as simple observation
or firing arrows from crossbow-like devices to pull out plugs of skin for
DNA sampling.
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- But he said that is not enough. The research requires
the killing of whales, and not just a few here and there - hundreds must
be taken to get a statistically meaningful sample.
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- "We study their eating habits by examining the content
of their stomachs," Mr. Hatanaka said. "Determining their age
requires acquiring the tissue in their ears. You can't get this data by
merely watching a live whale."
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- Greenpeace and several other environmental groups say
that is a smoke-screen.
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- "Although there may be some kinds of research that
require killing, the Japanese researchers use this as an excuse to get
what they really want, which is the whale meat," said Junko Sakurai,
Greenpeace Japan's whaling expert. "It's just commercial whaling in
disguise."
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- Mr. Hatanaka acknowledged that about 3,000 tonnes of
whale meat were sold last year, bringing in the equivalent of almost $73-million.
But he said the money was used to fund the program in keeping with IWC
rules, which require that byproducts of the research not to be wasted.
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- Opposition notwithstanding, Japan has compiled a formidable
case.
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- In 1992, the IWC's own scientific committee acknowledged
that, with about 760,000 minke whales in the Antarctic, an annual take
of 2,000 could continue for the next 100 years without hurting overall
stocks.
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- Dan Goodman, a Canadian who serves as a spokesman for
the research institute, complained that the scientific side of the argument
has been ignored.
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- "Australia is the best example," he said. "They
kill six million kangaroos every year, but they're opposed to the killing
of even one whale. It's a political freebie. It's a 'your-problem-not-mine.'
There's no constituency in Australia for whaling."
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- Mr. Goodman also noted that Japan has been singled out
more than Norway, which resumed commercial whaling despite the IWC ban.
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- "Norway is seen as having a good record on the environment,"
he said. "The perception of Japan in a broad array of environmental
issues is very negative - 'They cut down every tree to make disposable
chopsticks, they use way too much energy.' Japan has a public image problem."
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