Greenpeace will not chase the Japanese whaling fleet
The Japanese whaling fleet is preparing for another hunt in the Antarctic, but Greenpeace has decided they won’t be sending ships to chase and annoy the Japanese this year:
“The main reason we’ve decided not to send a ship is that we are seeing positive changes in Japan, with more people opposing whaling in the Southern Ocean,” Greenpeace campaigner Frode Pleym told a press conference in Tokyo.
The group also said it has documented enough evidence of Japan’s whaling activities over the years as it sent ships to the ocean a total of nine times.
“We’ve thus decided to focus our activities in Tokyo,” where Japan’s whaling policies are made, said Wakao Hanaoka of Greenpeace Japan.
The group will seek to reach the Japanese public through dialogue and lobbying in the Diet and elsewhere in order to achieve an end to whaling by the Japanese government, it said.
While Greenpeace seems to be opting for methods that might actually help accomplish its goal of turning Japanese public opinion against whaling, radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd will be continuing its policy of sending ships to the antarctic to threaten and/or ram Japanese vessels. According to the AFP, Sea Shepherd’s usual crew of activists will be joined by Hollywood star Daryl Hannah. I wonder if that means she supports Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson’s views about the need to “radically and intelligently” reduce the Earth’s human population by several billion people?
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