By IPS Correspondents
SUVA, Feb 15 2007 (IPS)

When Greenpeace Pacific activists and volunteers presented a Valentine’s Day card to the diplomatic corps at the Japanese embassy here with the theme, ‘We love Japan but whaling breaks our hearts,’ they were adopting a different tack to save the giant mammals.

Wednesday’s symbolic gesture, designed to draw attention to the campaign of the anti-whaling activists against Japanese whaling fleets on the high seas, comes even as Greenpeace continues its November 2005 ‘Defending Our Oceans’ anti-whaling campaign in the southern ocean.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans team Leader Nilesh Goundar said that many species of whales were endangered and some were critically endangered. ”The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is a breeding ground for nine species of great whales and an important part of the Pacific natural and cultural heritage,” said Goundar.

Tensions are currently high between anti-whalers and Japanese whaling fleets after an anti-whaling boat belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society collided with a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctica last weekend.

In the Pacific, concerns about Japanese intentions heightened in 2006 after it won a vote to oppose the 1986 ban on commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting, held in the Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis.

Following its triumph, Japan said it would expand its “scientific research” programme the following year by killing 1,300 whales, including 25 humpback and 25 fin whales for the first time. Six Pacific island nations – Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Palau – voted with Japan at the June meeting.

Greenpeace has accused Japan of using aid to gain votes, noting that it had pledged more than one million US dollars to Tuvalu, a pro-whaling IWC member, and had reached similar deals with Nauru, Kiribati and other desperately poor countries in the Pacific.

While the 2006 meeting vote fell short of the 75 percent needed to overturn the IWF moratorium, the pro-whaling bloc still regarded it as a major victory over the anti-whaling lobby. The resolution, which passed by 33 votes to 32, said the moratorium was no longer necessary and blamed whales for depleting fish stocks.

Goundar said that based on existing credible research, there was no evidence that killing whales would make any noticeable difference to fishing yields. “The whales which breed in the South Pacific are mainly baleen whales. They are filter feeders, which means they do not have teeth and feed primarily on krill.”

“Indeed, the stomach of virtually every whale killed in the Antarctic during Japan’s research whaling programme has contained krill and nothing but krill,” Goundar said.

On Japan’s use of aid to gain votes, Goundar told IPS that time and again, Pacific island countries considering offers of aid had been advised to think about the possible motives and agendas being pushed by donor countries, and the long-term effects, rather than just the short-term gains before reaching a decision.

Commercial whaling, said Goundar, was not in the best interests of Pacific islanders in that it was harmful to the whale-watching industry, which had greater long-term ecological and commercial benefits.

According to Greenpeace, whale-watching is a thriving industry. More than 87 countries run whale-watching operations around the world. This generates one billion dollars in revenue worldwide each year.

In Tonga alone, the total economic benefit from whale-watching is estimated at more than one million TOP (500,550 dollars) a year. Each humpback whale in Tonga’s waters brings 30,000 TOP (1,500 dollars) in whale-watch earnings each year, which adds up to 1.6 million TOP (800,000 dollars) during its 50-year lifetime.

“Whales are an important part of the eco-system and whale-watching could also take on greater economic significance,” Goundar said. Operators in Fiji also run whale-watching tours. At least one operator is currently conducting dolphin-watching activities off the west coast of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island.

Goundar clarified that the Valentine’s Day campaign was not related to the growing tensions between Japanese whaling fleets and anti-whaling activists on the high seas. “Greenpeace is a non-violent groupà Greenpeace activists place themselves between the harpoons and their target. They risk their own lives, not of others,” he added.

The Greenpeace ship ‘Esperanza’ is currently in the Southern Ocean, tracking the whaling fleet. The expedition is the last leg of the Defending Our Oceans campaign.

Goundar said activists have prevented 82 whales from being killed, and also forced out the companies funding the hunt, by taking peaceful direct action.

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