A 7.4-METRE LONG and 4-metre
wide minke whale is pulled from the water at a port in the city of Taean on
South Korea's west coast on 27th June 2012. The animal was 'found dead' in a
fishing net off the port the same day. Maritime police allow fishermen to sell
such whales caught as bycatch if there's no suspicion of poaching.
A 7.4-metre long and 4-metre
wide minke whale is pulled from the water at a port in the city of Taean on
South Korea's west coast on 27th June 2012. The animal was 'found dead' in a
fishing net off the port the same day. Maritime police allow fishermen to sell
such whales caught as bycatch if there's no suspicion of poaching.
South Korea's proposal to
resume whaling for scientific research has angered conservationists who said
the practice would skirt a global ban on whale hunting.
Critics said the move to
pursue whaling in domestic waters was modelled on Japan's introduction of
scientific whaling after the International Whaling Commission imposed a 1986
moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan says it has a right to monitor the
whales' impact on its fishing industry. South Korea says whaling is a
long-standing cultural tradition.
Anti-whaling activists
regularly harass Japanese vessels engaging in their annual whale hunt in the
Southern Ocean off Australia and Antarctica, with the two sides sometimes clashing
violently. At least one activist boat has sunk in recent years.
In Seoul, a government
official said South Korea abided by international regulations and it would be
up to the IWC to assess its proposal.
"We've submitted a
proposal to the IWC's Scientific Committee to resume scientific whaling in our
waters and will await the committee's assessment," said an official at the
Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry. "If it says it is not
adequate in their assessment of the legitimacy of scientific research, we'll
make further preparations."
This photo from the Ulsan
Coast Guard taken on 27th June 2012 shows a minke whale 'accidentally caught'
by nets cast by South Korean fishermen off the west coast being auctioned for
67 million won (US$590,000).
This photo from the Ulsan
Coast Guard taken on 27th June 2012 shows a minke whale 'accidentally caught'
by nets cast by South Korean fishermen off the west coast being auctioned for
67 million won (US$590,000).
South Korea said its
fishermen were complaining that growing whale populations were depleting
fishing stocks, an assertion the World Wildlife Fund said had no scientific
basis. Environmental activists dismissed the term scientific whaling as a
thinly veiled ruse to conduct commercial whaling.
"It's an absolute shock
this happened and it's an absolute disgrace because to say that hunting whales
is happening in the name of science is just wrong," James Lorenz from
Greenpeace told Australian TV. "Essentially, it's commercial whaling in
another form."
The minke whales that South
Korea proposes hunting are considered endangered, the World Wildlife Fund said.
Former Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell, now on the board of the
anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd, said the organisation would
"have to get organised to go out to the oceans and save the whales off
South Korea."
Australian Prime Minister
Julia Gillard said she would fight the proposal, which was made at a meeting of
the International Whaling Commission in Panama City, while the United States
said it planned to take the matter up with the South Korean government.
Australia has long opposed
Japanese whaling and Gillard said it would lodge a diplomatic protest against
South Korea's move. Australia has filed a complaint against Japan at the
International Court of Justice in The Hague to stop scientific whaling. A
decision is expected in 2013 or later.
New Zealand Foreign Minister
Murray McCully said the announcement was a setback to global conservation
efforts as whales in its waters were already targeted by Japan. "The
portrayal of this initiative as a 'scientific' programme will have no more
credibility than the so-called scientific programme conducted by Japan, which
has long been recognised as commercial whaling in drag," he said.
Panama's delegate to the IWC
conference, Tomas Guardia, denounced the South Korean proposal "because it
goes against the ban ... we don't support whale hunting under any
circumstances".
Twitter was awash with
condemnations. "I don't care what justification you give," wrote a
user identifying herself as Savannah, from Australia. "It's crap. Stop
killing whales."
Many Koreans view whale meat
as a delicacy. Murals some 5,000 years old depicting whaling have been
excavated around Ulsan, center of the whaling industry on the southeastern
coast since the late 19th century.
Officials say that before
South Korea joined the moratorium in 1986, its average annual catch was 600
whales, most of which were consumed. Whaling is now subject to prosecution and
punishable by a jail or fines, but meat is available from mostly minke that get
caught in fishing nets 'by accident' or wash ashore.
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