Monday, 10 September 2018 

Dead Minke whales on the flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru (Photo Credit: Sea Shepherd).

As the main session of 67th meeting of the International Whaling Commission is set to begin in Brazil this week, Sea Shepherd is calling on the Australian Government to make a public commitment to sending a vessel to the Southern Ocean this summer in order to monitor and oppose whaling supported by the Japanese Government. 

“The Australian Government must do more than oppose the resumption of commercial whaling proposed at this year’s IWC meeting. The Government’s vocal condemnation of Japan’s rogue hunt is not enough it must be backed by action,” stated Sea Shepherd Australia’s Managing Director Jeff Hansen. 

“All Australians are asking for is that the current Liberal Federal Australian Government live up to its pre-election promise to send a vessel to oppose whaling by Japan as Morgan polls show that the majority of Australians want this. It is time for the Australian Government to represent Australia’s whales and the wishes of the Australian public and commit to sending a vessel south, otherwise to use former shadow environment minister’s Greg Hunts words, there will be ‘blood in the water and a blind eye in Canberra’

"While Sea Shepherd applauds Australia’s advocacy for an end to whaling at the IWC, the slaughter continues in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, which is merely a commercial hunt under the guise of research, rejected by the IWC’s own scientific committee. Australia would have great global support and should be leading the international community by going out to sea, documenting and opposing this cruel and barbaric activity,” Mr Hansen said. 

“Under a previous Labor Government, Australia has sent a customs vessel to document Antarctic whaling. Those images were used as part of a successful International Court of Justice case against Japan. The bloody photos of dead whales shocked the world and obtaining further evidence could be used for actions like taking Japan to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea," Mr Hansen concluded.

Email Prime Minister Scott Morrison and ask our government to send a customs vessel to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary this summer: https://bit.ly/2zass7Y