Today, the whales that we share this world with are under attack from all sides. Pollution is poisoning their waters, climate change is ruining their habitats and food sources, and human threats like speeding boats and fishing nets are killing them at an alarming rate.
Conservation efforts are the only way to fight these threats, and for the last few decades, the international community has rallied to help these amazing creatures get back on their fins.
That is…most of the international community.
In 1986,
the International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a global ban on commercial whaling because whale populations were suffering so greatly.
Instead of respecting this ban,
Japan left the IWC entirely, and continued to slaughter these magnificent beings for profit.This season, Japan announced that they will kill nearly
450 whales. This is unacceptable.
Sign the petition and ask that Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Norikazu Suzuki rejoin the IWC and commit to ending commercial whaling in Japan!The quotas are as follows: 167 minke whales, 154 Bryde's whales, 56 sei whales and 60 fin whales. These numbers even include whales as bycatch, or accidental killings -- a brutal acknowledgement that whales are already under threat, whether or not they're being hunted.
During these cruel whale hunts, these animals are
chased down and brutally stabbed with harpoons that explode from their vessels. They are dragged onto ships and stripped of their meat, blubber, and other body parts so they can be sold.
Japan's decision to continue whaling for profit is shameful. The popularity of whale meat has declined significantly in the country;
very few people in the country ever eat whale meat! And yet, the Japanese government is making efforts to repopularize it through exhibitions and spectacle.
Why promote such an unsustainable, cruel industry when there are so many other ways to support the economy? Whale populations were nearly hunted to extinction in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Without a ban on commercial whaling, many whale species may not even be around today. Fin whales, one of the species targeted by Japan, are currently listed as threatened under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Conservationists warn that if Japan continues to kill them, that could threaten their entire population's survival.
There is no acceptable number of whales that can be killed for profit. Japan must finally accept what the rest of the international community has been committing to for years: whales should not be commercially slaughtered.Add your name to tell Minister Suzuki to ban commercial whaling in Japan!