First published by Tom Quinn of The International Fund for Animal Welfare in association with the launch of their new report “The economics of Japanese whaling”…
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MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum in Britain have called upon Japan to end its cruel and unnecessary whaling programme. More than 30 Parliamentarians attended the launch of our new report, ‘The Economics of Japanese Whaling’ in the House of Commons, all united in their opposition to this outdated, costly and unsustainable practice.
At our event, the International Fund for Animal Welfare Japan representative Naoko Funahashi led attendees through an engaging presentation outlining the stark reality that Japanese whaling only continues to be viable due to a sizeable Japanese government subsidy, including funds donated for tsunami relief following the devastating earthquake in 2011. She highlighted national polls demonstrating that the majority of Japanese people are indifferent to whaling and that the vast majority oppose the use of their taxes to prop up this dying industry.
Naoko also provoked much amusement as she revealed clear statistics demonstrating the lack of market for whale meat in Japan. Chicken, pork, beef and even horsemeat are more popular than whale for Japanese consumers. For a nation gripped by the news that horsemeat has been retailing as beef in many processed food products this provided light relief from the grim picture Naoko painted of a pointless industry that continues to hunt these sentient and majestic creatures for no discernable benefit.
Jointly hosted by Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders MP and Conservative Justin Tomlinson MP, our event saw Labour Shadow Minister Tom Harris MP confirm his party’s unequivocal opposition to whaling. Tom has joined IFAW on our Song of the Whalescientific research vessel, watching minke whales off the coast of Iceland, and so he kindly spoke in glowing terms of the scientific rigour on which we base all of our campaign work.
He was also quick to praise the commitment of his opposite number, Environment Minister Richard Benyon, to ending commercial whaling. IFAW works closely with the Minister on this issue, but unfortunately due to personal reasons he had to pull out of speaking at our event. Nevertheless he confirmed the Government’s opposition to whaling in a letter to IFAW, stating that “there is absolutely no justification for this whaling and the UK will continue to oppose it”.
All the MPs who attended had their photo taken endorsing our report, and a great many were successful in promoting their support on this issue in their local media. The message from our event was clear – no matter what political differences they may have, politicians from all parties in the UK are united in their opposition to commercial whaling.
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