Japanese tsunami fund 'used for whaling programme'

BBC News, 7 December 2011

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Japan cut short its whaling season last year
because of harassment by anti-whaling activists

Japan has used funds from its tsunami recovery budget to subsidise its controversial annual whaling programme, animal rights activists say.

Greenpeace says 2.3bn yen ($30m; £19m) is being used to fund extra security measures for the whaling fleet.

Japanese officials argued when they applied for extra funding that whaling helped coastal communities.

The whaling fleet reportedly headed for Antarctic waters this week, though Tokyo has not confirmed the reports.

There has been a ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but Japan catches about 1,000 whales each year in what it says is a scientific research programme.

Critics say those claims are just a cover for a commercial operation, and accuse the Japanese of hunting the animals to the brink of extinction only for food.

Militant anti-whaling groups attack the fleet every year, and last year forced the Japanese to abandon its programme before it was completed.

Earlier this year, the Japanese Fisheries Agency applied to the government for extra funding for its programme from the emergency budget aimed at helping communities recover from the devastating tsunami and earthquake.

The agency argued that some of the towns and villages affected relied on whaling for their livelihoods.

Activists say the agency's funding request was approved and it has spent the money on extra security and covering its debts.

Junichi Sato, from Greenpeace Japan, told Australia's ABC that there was no link between the whaling programme and the tsunami recovery.

"It is simply used to cover the debts of the whaling programme, because the whaling programme itself has been suffering from big financial problems," he said.

The Australian and New Zealand governments have both criticised Japan's decision to continue whaling.

They are both considering sending vessels to monitor the whaling fleet.

Meanwhile, activists from the militant Sea Shepherd group have promised that they will carry on their campaign against the whaling fleet.

Related Article:

Japan whaling fleet accused of using tsunami disaster funds

A Japanese ship injures a whale with its first harpoon.
Photograph: Kate Davidson/EPA/Corbis