no it's not flying
The Sea Shepherd folks have just announced a new boat to combat the scientific whaling ships in the Antarctic. The boat can speed up to 50 knots, and it is going to be used to disrupt Japan’s whaling ships by intervening the harpooning process. The design of the ship would make the creators of Dark Knight proud. Only thing missing are harpoon launchers to stop the whalers’ harpooning of whales.
I’m the opinion that whaling is OK if it can be taken sustainably, and because of the heavy politicization of the IWC, the ban of commercial whaling is probably a detriment to the whole process. But I’m also sympathetic to anti-whaling arguments and I will easily accept Japan to stop the lethal sampling in ICR’s scientific whaling program (JARPA) if the general populace of Japan (who should take the handle on this issue) thinks so. I also think the Sea Shepherd’s actions are very counterproductive given their aims (i.e. they are full of poop).
Since 1980, Japan’s “iron triangle” (Japan Fisheries Agency, fishing and whaling industries, Diet members affiliated with the fishing biz) on the whaling issue has suppressed anti-whaling arguments (Morikawa 2009). Only through strong NGO (Dolphin and Whale Action Network, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Greenpeace Japan, Japan Whale Conservation Network) action since 2001 and the lessened economic importance of whale meat have turned the tide especially for the young generation (ibid.). According to Greenpeace (2008), 31% favor whaling, 25% oppose and 44% are apathetic. That sounds about right, but the 25% that oppose whaling is not necessary synonymous with people who support the actions of Sea Shepherd.
If you look across the board at the Japanese mass media and the blogosphere, every time Sea Shepherd is mentioned in an article, the descriptions of them usually ranges from a “nuisance” to”eco-terrorist.” Maybe Greenpeace Japan is sympathetic to Sea Shepherd’s actions, but they’ve also been critical (along with the IWC). Especially after Sea Shepherd’s BS accounts of “shootings” by the whaling vessels, there’s only antipathy at any mention of the obstructions.
Let’s take a look at Japan’s opinion on Sea Shepherd by 世論調査.net. The survey allows plural choices on each respondent’s number one opinion on Sea Shepherd (not whether they agree or disagree on each opinion).
66% of the respondents said Sea Shepherd’s actions are intolerable, and looking at the comments section, discontent is high. Only about 2% said Sea Shepherd’s obstructions are OK, and under 20% said they agree with their intentions, just not their methods. About 80% of the respondents had negative responses, and more people were for military force than they were sympathetic to the Sea Shepherd. One could supposedly say that negative opinion is overestimated because emotional people tend to participate in these type of surveys, but it is also true that internet users tend to be more in sync with the news. Internet opinion also mirrors the messages of mass media, and unfortunately, Sea Shepherd is the most visible instead of legit discussions on whaling (possibly on purpose). Yahoo! conducted an internet survey with 21000+ respondents, and 90% said they were for commercial whaling.
Not well known are young (educated) Japanese opinion on whaling (theoretically the demographic that will shape policy in the future). Here is some results on whaling opinion of university students from 2007 (Bowett and Hay 2009).
2 = strongly agree, 0 = neutral, -2 = strongly disagree
There is high approval of whale conservation and whaling traditions (“Intangible Motivations”), while low approval of pro-whaling rhetoric and meat consumption. The students moderately agree with maintaining the whaling industry, but that is basically to continue traditions instead of for consumption of meat. The female opinion show generally less approval of whaling than men, and because females tend to be less traditional, it could shine a light on how the young generation will feel in the future. Increasing levels of environmental and ecological conscience of the young generation combined with declining appreciation towards whale meat (Morikawa 2009) also point towards a decline in pro-whaling opinion.
In general, the Japanese populace is apathetic or split in their opinion on whaling, but the informed demographic is for whaling — the latter of which is comprised of pro-whaling (traditional and special interests groups) and anti-anti-whaling people (pissed off at Sea Shepherd and others). As the younger generation take over, I would argue that the traditional values in whaling will keep declining, but overall pro-whaling sentiments can be kept up by anti-anti-whaling opinion fed by those bat mobiles (and Gov. of Japan).
Meanwhile, is the current Government sympathetic to whaling? Short answer is yes. The DPJ’s manifesto specifically says commercial whaling should be reinstated.
Even with the Prime Minister’s dislike of kujira meat, the DPJ’s stringent following of their manifesto makes it unlikely that Sea Shepherd will achieve their goals. The exact opposite is likely to occur, as approval of a legislation to send the Marines over to help stopping the whaling obstructions, is currently being considered.
Refs:
- Morikawa, Jun. (2009) Whaling in Japan: Power, Politics and Diplomacy. Columbia University Press.
- Julia Bowett, Pete Hay. Whaling and its controversies: Examining the attitudes of Japan’s youth, Marine Policy, Volume 33, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 775-783, ISSN 0308-597X, DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2009.02.012.
