Press Release

Koreans want whale protection, not whaling!

Korean government shouldn’t follow Japanese way; scientific whaling is getting the blame from international society!

No! Scientific Whaling, Yes! Whale Protection

On July 4, Korean delegates declared to begin whaling at the 64th International Whaling Commission (IWC) held at the Panama City. Delegate, consist of government officials from Ministry of Fisheries for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF), will submit an ‘Scientific Whaling’ to the IWC Scientific Committee.

‘Scientific Whaling’ aims to catch whales to identify the population and ecosystem of whales. Japan is the only country of scientific whaling. Actually Japan is reactivated commercial whaling in the name of ‘scientific research program’ which is getting blame from other countries. Because whale research can be carried out with non lethal method; for example GPS tracking installment. And Japan has sold out 99% of whale meat to the market after sampling the minimum size of the whole trunk. Japanese has caught hundreds of Antarctic minke whales and fin whales with disguise of scientific whaling.

Korean government has dealt with whales as fish when fisheries staff of MIFAFF participates in IWC. Minke whales along the Korean coast are classified J-Stock according to the genetic map. After moratorium in 1987, this species has not been restored its population to be open for commercial whaling. On the contrary, whale ecosystem has been absolutely devastated by illegal whaling and by-catch. During the last 10 years 4,722 whales have been by-caught; this should be called as ‘whaling’.

So Korean delegate’s declaration for scientific whaling is actually the proclamation for whaling to follow Japanese way. Korean sea is the most infamous for illegal whaling and by-catch. And whale meat is actually found on the market. Even worse Ulsan is propelling ‘whale slaughterhouse’ and invigorates to develop whale meat recipes in the name of cultural rehabilitation. Korean scientific whaling could be called a ‘fisheries policy’ by MIFAFF which reflects some of the distorted fisheries interest.

According to the 2009 national survey on whaling[1], 67.9% of Koreans support ‘whale protection with anti-whaling policy’. Only 15.4% of Koreans agreed for whaling. We are now finding good examples of anti-whaling in Korea. In 2012, Won Soon Park, the mayor of Seoul City, has proclaimed to send back captive dolphins (Indo-pacific Bottlenose Dolphin) in dolphinarium and he ordered to change commercial dolphin show to ‘ecological presentation’. And Yeosu International EXPO is opening with the slogan of ‘Living Ocean, Breathing Coast’.

Most of Korean people want whale protection, hope to return dolphins to the nature and live in Korea holding International EXPO to make ‘Living Ocean’. Korean delegates to the IWC have dashed cold water on these wish to protect the ecosystem of the sea. We say they don’t represent the opinion of most Koreans.

We insist

1.     MIFAFF is to blame for the intention to follow Japanese way of whaling and should withdraw Korean delegates’ declaration for scientific whaling policy.

2.     Whale policy should be transferred to the Ministry of Environment. MIFAFF is not pertinent partner to protect whales as it deals with whales as fish.  

3.     Whale meat from by-catch should be banned on the market. Korean government should reward fishermen who release entangled whales for whale ecosystem.

4.    

July 5, 2012

KFEM Ocean Committee (President, YOON Jun Ha)