Prevent Japanese Whaling

My letters to my representatives concerning the attempt by Japan to resume commerical whaling.

I am deeply concerned by Japan's proposal to more than double its whaling program and attempts to overturn to the long-standing moratorium on commercial whaling.

Whales are uniquely intelligent and beautiful creatures that man has already hunted to the brink of extinction. As a neuroscientist, I am struck by the similarity of the brains of whales and dolphins to those of people and believe they most likely have a degree of sentience like that of our own.

Under International Whaling Commission rules, Japan has engaged in whaling for 'scientific' purposes for the last 18 years. It is widely accepted that the Japanese research program is not more than a sham - a front for continuing its commercial whaling program. This view is supported by the paucity of peer-reviewed publications that have emerged from Japanese studies over the last 18 years, and the unnecessary use of lethal techniques employed in those studies. Such activities mock the intentions of the IWC and allow Japan to covertly flaunt the international consensus reached on protecting cetacean species.

Since its inception, the United States has supported the moratorium on commercial whaling. Now Japan wishes to expand its program, again using pseudo-scientific arguments to support the proposal and is seeking to overturn the moratorium itself. It is important that the US oppose these efforts and finally put a stop to Japan's on-going whaling activities.

Unfortunately Japan has a history of offering trade incentives to IWC member countries which support its position. Mongolia, a landlocked country with no historical interest in whaling, has recently joined the IWC merely to add its vote to the Japanese block. There is a real danger that Japan will achieve its objectives at the IWC meeting currently taking place.

It is unacceptable that Japan is openly buying votes on the IWC. In the face of such provocation it is only reasonable that the United States should flex its economic muscles as well - I urge you to ask Congress to authorize trade sanctions against any nation supporting an expanded whaling program, or an end to the moratorium.