Whale watching is seen as an ethical alternative to viewing captive cetaceans. Its benefits include raising awareness and educating people about cetaceans and marine conservation, besides providing a platform for research and collecting scientific data. But experts caution that this activity must be constantly monitored and compliance with legislation enforced, to avoid risk of harassment, injury and undue disturbances to cetaceans. Credit: Neena Bhandari/IPS

By Neena Bhandari
SYDNEY, Australia, Oct 14 2019 (IPS)

The thrill of watching a whale up close or schools of dolphins frolicking in an ocean are much sought after experiences today, boosting the demand for tours that provide people the opportunity to see these marine animals in their natural habitats. But becoming a major tourist drawcard has also exposed cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) and their environs to risks and challenges.

“Whale-watching generates economic benefits to a wider portion of the coastal communities where it is carried out, resulting in a more socially fair distribution of the profits unlike commercial whaling, which concentrated income in the hands of few business owners who killed whales for profit,” said Luena Fernandes of the Humpback Whale Institute in Brazil, who is the chair of the Whale Heritage Sites (WHS) Steering Committee and Chair of the World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) Science Working Group.

Over 100 whale scientists, conservationists and whale watching tourism experts met from 8th to 12th October in Hervey Bay in Australia’s Queensland state for the fifth World Whale Conference (WWC), organised by the United Kingdom-based WCA, world’s largest partnership of non-profit organisations, whale and dolphin watching tour operators and individuals, and co-hosted by Fraser Coast Tourism and Events.

Whale watching is seen as an ethical alternative to viewing captive cetaceans. Its benefits include raising awareness and educating people about cetaceans and marine conservation, besides providing a platform for research and collecting scientific data. But Fernandes cautions that this activity must be constantly monitored and compliance with legislation enforced, to avoid risk of harassment, injury and undue disturbances to cetaceans. In many localities, whale-watching is carried out within breeding areas.

Scientists have also raised concerns about swimming with whales and dolphins, especially active interaction whereby tourists are placed ‘in the way’ of cetaceans or actually chase them. Studies have demonstrated that human interactions and vessels can alter the behaviour of cetaceans.

Humpback whales migrate from the cold southern waters of the Antarctic to the warm northern waters of the Kimberley region every year to calve. The World’s largest pod of Humpback Whales, estimated at up to 40,000, mate and give birth in the Indian Ocean around Broome, western Australia. Credit: Neena Bhandari/IPS

“In the short-term, whale-watching can change the distribution and dispersion of cetacean groups, and affect their vocalisations which are a crucial part of their social life and survival. Cetaceans can also be negatively affected without showing any apparent change in behaviour.  But acute, prolonged or cumulative stress can result in diseases and affect reproductive success and survival in the long-term,” Fernandes told IPS.

“In large whales, significant behaviour changes can have high energy costs too, in particular for females with calves, with the aggravation of being far from their feeding areas. If the females cannot rest and spend their energy reserves swimming, they may not have enough milk to nurse their calves adequately. This may affect calf growth, resulting in their lower survival probability. Only three studies to date have been able to demonstrate long-term effects of whale-watching on cetacean vital rates, mainly a decrease in female reproductive success, and all on Odontocetes (toothed whales and dolphins),” she added. 

Globally, an estimated 15 million or more people went whale watching in 2019. The last global study had stated that 13 million people went whale watching in 2009. People worldwide spent more than $2.5bn on commercial whale watching tours, with the industry supporting 19,000 jobs.

To inspire kids and adults about marine life and ocean conservation in landlocked places, nine-year-old Aeon Bashir, who addressed the conference via video link from his home in Minnesota (USA), started Aeon for Ocean in 2017.

“Children who live in inland areas often do not know or have a connection with oceans and marine life. Through presentations, sing-a-longs, discussions and beach clean-ups, me and my team of ambassadors in the Krill2Whale Program, have been helping our peers and adults understand how we are all part of the marine ecosystem with every breath we take and through the water we drink and use,” Aeon told IPS.

He wants other young people, especially from developing inland Asian countries, to become Krill2Whale Ambassadors.

“The programme represents kids like me learning about the small creatures, the krill, and to the biggest creature, the whale. It is aimed at educating, creating awareness about oceans and youth leadership by encouraging young people to speak or write about conservation.

We are also using virtual reality to help kids see personal connection with oceans and enthuse them into science,” added Aeon, who wants to be an aeronautical engineer and marine scientist to improve the design of planes by studying the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) body shape and movements.

To inspire kids and adults about marine life and ocean conservation in landlocked places, nine-year-old Aeon Bashir started Aeon for Ocean in 2017. This is Aeon presenting at the ProdeoAcademy. Courtesy: Aeon for Oceans

It was during their vacations in California that his parents first observed Aeon’s passion for whales and dolphins. “He preferred to watch these creatures in the ocean rather than go to theme parks. His heroes were whales, dolphins and sharks toys,” says his mother, Menaka Nagarajan, who hails from Chennai. His father, Bashir Ahmed, is from Bangladesh, both parents are computer scientists.

“We are learning with Aeon. If I knew what I know now about oceans and marine life when I was younger, I wouldn’t have been the one to throw that candy wrapper in the sea, but I would have been part of the solution.” 

Plastic pollution is driving many of the marine species to brink of extinction. Take 3 for the Sea inspires everyone to be part of the solution by taking 3 pieces of rubbish from a beach, waterway or anywhere to help reduce the plastic pollution ending up in our oceans.

“Earlier this year a starving Cuvier’s beaked whale was found beached in the Philippines, choking on 40 kg of plastic rubbish. Take 3 has delivered education that inspires participation to 350,000 students, and our global community of 300,000 are removing over 10 million pieces of rubbish every year,” Roberta Dixon-Valk, a marine ecologist/conservationist and Head of Programmes and a Co-founder of Take 3 for the Sea, told IPS.

Highlighting other major threats and risks to whales in the Asia-Pacific region, Wally Franklin, whale researcher and founder of The Oceania Project told IPS, “Climate change poses the most major threat to cetaceans. Rising sea temperatures and increased acidity of oceans may disrupt both breeding area patterns and habitats usage by humpback whales as well as krill production in Antarctic feeding areas. Also increasing vessel traffic, both commercial and recreational along coastal migratory corridors remain a serious threat as well as habitat degradation and plastic pollution.

“Sound pollution from coastal construction as well as offshore drilling platforms are likely to have an increasing impact on the acoustic environment for humpback whales and other species of cetaceans using coastal corridors during migration between Antarctic feeding areas and temperate breeding grounds.”

According to International Union for the Conservation of Nature, of the 89 currently recognised cetacean species, 29 percent are assigned to a threatened category.

Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is when whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die. Responses to stranding across the Asia-Pacific region vary tremendously, from expert care and successful re-floatation to communities using a stranded animal as a food source opportunity with little respect for the animal.

Sharon Livermore, Marine Conservation Programme Officer at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, an animal welfare and conservation organisation, told IPS, “In the case of any marine mammal strandings, it is important that members of the public who may come across one do all they can to help reduce risks to the animal. Firstly, if there are dogs in the area it is important they are kept under control to reduce stress to the stranded animal and ideally other members of the public are kept at a distance to reduce further disturbance”.

“We advise people to get in touch with the relevant marine stranding rescue group in the area. It is best to leave it to trained responders to refloat stranded animals to avoid inadvertently causing injury, but anyone keen to get more involved might wish to look into training and volunteering with a stranding network,” Livermore added.

Recent developments in AI technology are having a major impact on the study of marine mammals. According to Franklin, “Increased availability of visual data is allowing for the emergence of photo-based mark-recapture catalogues for multiple species. Emerging algorithms, if provided with an accurate and representative baseline curated by ‘eye’, can help quantify inherent error in matching.

However, no automated system has yet been developed to accommodate the information provided by multiple marks (e.g., ventral-tail flukes, dorsal-fins and lateral body marks). Importantly such AI technology must be open access to encourage wide application across multiple species”.

The migratory nature and wide range of most whale species makes it possible to watch them in various destinations throughout the year, but it also makes it crucial to protect their feeding, resting, breeding and calving habitats. 

The WCA’s Global Best Practice Guidance and International Whaling Commission’s Whale Watching Handbook represent international best practice for responsible whale and dolphin watching in the wild.

To reward communities that are promoting sustainable environmental management of marine resources, Whale Heritage Sites are being accredited across the globe. Hervey Bay, an internationally significant whale new-born calf nursery – where whales prepare their young for the long migration back to Antarctic waters, was on Friday accredited as the first Whale Heritage Site.

The whale watching centre of The Bluff, in Durban (South Africa), an important migratory route for humpback whales, including mother/calf pairs moving between northern calving grounds and southern feeding regions, was the second accredited site.

The concentration of clorophyll in the tropical Eastern Pacific, off Costa Rica’s northwest coast, reflects a high level of productivity and a healthy food chain. Credit: Kip Evans/MarViva Foundation

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
SAN JOSE, Oct 20 2014 (IPS)

The vast habitat known as the Costa Rican Thermal Convection Dome in the eastern Pacific Ocean will finally become a protected zone, over 50 years after it was first identified as one of the planet’s most biodiversity-rich marine areas.

At the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP12), held Oct. 6–17 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the Dome was declared an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA), at Costa Rica’s request.

The measure will boost conservation of and research on the area, which is a key migration and feeding zone for species like the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), and the short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis).

“Making the ocean healthy guarantees an improvement in the living standards of the people who depend in one way or another on the country’s marine resources,” the deputy minister of water, oceans, coasts and wetlands, Fernando Mora, told Tierramérica shortly after the Dome was declared an EBSA at COP12.

“It is one of the richest areas on the planet with a food chain that starts with krill (Euphausiacea), which attracts other species, including blue whales and dolphins,” Jorge Jiménez, the director general of the MarViva Foundation, told Tierramérica.

“In that area is one of the greatest concentrations of dolphins in the American Pacific, that come from the west coast of California, to feed and breed,” he said.

The Costa Rican Thermal Convection Dome is a key migratory route for blue and humpback whales. The whale watching industry is flourishing in Costa Rica’s Pacific waters. Credit: MarViva Foundation

The Costa Rican Thermal Convection Dome is an area 300 to 500 km wide where ocean and wind currents bring the mineral- and nutrient-rich cold deeper water to the surface, creating the perfect ecosystem for a vast variety of marine life.

The nutrients give rise to a highly developed food chain, ranging from phytoplankton and zooplankton – the productive base of the marine food web – to mammals like dolphins and blue whales, which migrate from the waters off the coast of California.

Because the dome is a mobile phenomenon caused by wind and sea currents, for half of the year it is just off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast (in the area of Papagayo, in the northwest of the country) and during the other half of the year it is blown further out to sea. The centre of the dome is 300 km from the coast of this Central American nation.

“It is one of the six biodiversity-rich domes of this kind in the world,” Omar Lizano, a physicist and oceanographer, told Tierramérica. “The Costa Rican dome is the only one that is produced by the force of the wind that comes from the Caribbean and picks up speed over the Pacific, and makes the deeper water rise to the surface, which brings up a lot of rich nutrients.”

In an initiative backed by MarViva and other organisations, the Costa Rican government decided that the “upwelling system of Papagayo and adjacent areas” will be an EBSA in the tropical eastern Pacific.

Some civil society organisations have proposed regional initiatives involving the area, which they sometimes refer to as the Central American dome. But deputy minister Mora said the dome is a Costa Rican phenomenon.

He pointed out that the scientific term for the area is the Costa Rican Thermal Convection Dome, the name it was given by U.S. physical oceanographer Klaus Wyrtki. In 1948 he began to study marine mammal sightings made from boats navigating from California to Panama.

For the local authorities, conservation of the dome and the Papagayo upwelling system is among the priorities in the waters of the Pacific, because protecting the ecosystem brings economic benefits. Approval of the declaration of the dome as an EBSA by the 194 CBD signatory countries now makes protection of the area obligatory, said the deputy minister.

In the case of exploitable species like tuna, the ministry of the environment and energy (MINAE) has drawn up a zoning decree that would make it possible to regulate tuna fishing in the dome. The tourism industry, a pillar of the Costa Rican economy, would also benefit from protection of the dome, because it is a migration route for blue and humpback whales, which draws whale watchers.

Leatherback sea turtles in their sanctuary in Playa Grande, Costa Rica. In the last few years the population has declined, with fewer than 100 coming ashore in nesting season. Credit: Kip Evans/MarViva Foundation

In September, the sixth annual Festival of Whales and Dolphins, dedicated to whale watching in southeast Costa Rica, brought in 40,000 dollars the first day alone, according to deputy minister Mora, whose office forms part of the MINAE.

Government officials, scientists and members of civil society hope this will make it possible to generate more information on one of the planet’s most biodiversity-rich marine areas.

“From our scientific point of view, the first thing that should be done is to carry out research, and it is the last thing that is being done,” said Lizano, an oceanographer with the Marine Science and Limnology Research Center (CIMAR) of the University of Costa Rica.

The area has been explored on several occasions. The last time was in January 2014, with the participation of MarViva and Mission Blue, an international organisation focused on the protection of the seas, which is one of the activist groups that pushed for special protection of the dome.

They studied the role played by the protection of the leatherback sea turtle out at sea.

Although the dome is in Costa Rican territorial waters, the fact that it is mobile means it has an influence on the exclusive economic zones of other Central American countries, like Nicaragua and El Salvador, as well as on international waters.

MarViva estimates that 70 percent of the dome is outside of the jurisdiction of any country, and the organisation’s director general, Jiménez, argues that what is needed is a joint effort and shared responsibility. Mission Blue and other organisations concur.

“It is a regional matter, and all Central American countries should work together, because part of the dome is on the high seas, outside of their jurisdictions. This is like the Wild West. It’s disturbing because there are no controls or protection out there,” Kip Evans, Mission Blue’s director of expeditions and photography, told Tierramérica.

But the government stressed that the nucleus of the dome is under its jurisdiction. “Historically it has been called the Costa Rican Dome and the nucleus is in Costa Rican waters. What we know as the Thermal Convection Dome is off the coast of the north of the country, not Central America,” Mora told Tierramérica.

But the deputy minister and his team do agree with MarViva and other non-governmental organisations on the need for regional cooperation. Costa Rica forms part of the Organisation of Fisheries and Aquaculture for the Isthmus of Central America (OSPESCA), where it works together with bodies like the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific.

This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network.

Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

Workers start to dismember a fin whale at the whaling station in Hvalfjordur, about 45 km north of Reykjavik. Credit: Lowana Veal/IPS.

By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK, Apr 14 2014 (IPS)

Posters with the words “Do you know who caught your seafood?” are now appearing on buses, trains and other venues in Boston. They are part of a campaign organised by a coalition of U.S. environmental groups called Whales Need Us, to draw attention to the links between Icelandic whalers and fish sold in the U.S.

A picture of a whale appears on the poster, together with the name of the website where those interested can find more information.“The campaign has contacted retailers, wholesalers and the food service industry across the U.S. to let them know that American consumers do not want to buy seafood from whalers."

The groups decided to focus on Boston because the launch of the campaign mid-March coincided with the opening of the North American Seafood Expo at the Boston Convention Centre.  Supporters picketed the stall of HB Grandi, one of Iceland’s largest fishing companies, asking onlookers to stop trading with the company because of its links with whaling.

The expo is the largest seafood trade event in North America.

At the start of the protest, fish consumers were requested to ask their local food retailers and restaurants to verify that their seafood products did not come from a source linked to Icelandic whaling.

“The campaign has contacted retailers, wholesalers and the food service industry across the U.S. to let them know that American consumers do not want to buy seafood from whalers, and asking for their help,” says Susan Millward, executive director of the Animal Welfare Institute, one of the organisations behind the Whales Need Us campaign.

On Mar. 18, the last day of the three-day expo, Canadian-U.S. seafood company High Liner Foods (HLF) announced it would discontinue trading with HB Grandi because of its whaling connections. It had been trading with the Icelandic company since October 2013.

Since the end of the expo, U.S. companies Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market have severed ties with Rhode Island-based Legacy Seafoods, another company that imports substantial quantities of fish from HB Grandi.

HLF say they do not have any existing contracts outstanding with HB Grandi, and are committed not to enter into any new contracts with them until they have fully divested their involvement and interest in whaling.

“Even though HLF’s policy is strict on not doing business with suppliers directly involved in whaling, it has nothing to do with individuals or shareholders of HB Grandi. We have no control over the ownership of privately or publicly owned companies in HLF’s supplier base,” Elvar Einarsson from High Liner’s procurement division tells IPS.

At the end of 2011, High Liner bought Icelandic Group’s U.S. and Asian operations. Icelandic Group also agreed to a seven-year licensing agreement with HLF for the use of the Icelandic Seafood brand in North American countries until 2018.

“For HLF the marketing and sales of seafood from Iceland under the brand Icelandic Seafood is an important part of our business. There will be no change on HLF’s procurement from its other Icelandic suppliers and hopefully HB Grandi’s circumstances will change so they will be able to become one of HLF’s suppliers again,” says Einarsson.

Last September, Kristjan Loftsson from the whaling company Hvalur increased his family’s shares in HB Grandi from 10.2 percent to 14.9 percent. On the HB Grandi website, Loftsson is listed as chairman of the board.

At the time, there was obviously some concern over the repercussions that this could have. The fishing website Undercurrent reported “an Icelandic industry player” as saying: “Hvalur is Iceland’s only whaling company, and it’s increasingly a controversial activity. It’s obviously a risk to a company selling wild fish that their ownership is closely connected to whaling.”

Vilhjalmur Vilhjalmsson, CEO for HB Grandi, has stated publicly that he will not speak to the press on the company’s trade with High Liner Foods. In a short press release issued by his company, he is quoted as saying: “We agree with the government’s policy on sensible utilisation of natural resources and have nothing to do with what operations individual shareholders choose to practise or not practise.”

But Millward emphasises that they are not trying to attack Icelandic fisheries as such. “The campaign is in no way meant as an attack on Iceland’s economy and is geared only at those companies linked to the Hvalur whaling company,” she says.

In 2011, President Barack Obama issued diplomatic sanctions on Iceland as part of the Pelly Amendment. The Whales Need Us coalition has once again made use of this.

“The campaign has also urged the public to contact President Obama, and ask that he take targeted action against Icelandic companies connected to whaling by invoking the Pelly Amendment, a tool promulgated by the U.S. Congress as a means of compelling compliance with international conservation treaties,” Millward told IPS.

To an extent, this policy worked. Obama has said that he would invoke the Pelly Amendment and instigate a number of measures aimed at Iceland. But once again, these measures appear to be diplomatic rather than trade sanctions, although they are more extensive than before.

Coincidentally, Icelandic Social Democratic MP Sigridur Ingibjorg Ingadottir has just put forward a parliamentary proposal that calls for an investigation into the economic and trade repercussions for Iceland of whaling.

“The investigation will take into account both minke whales and fin whales,” she told IPS. “Are we prepared to sacrifice more for less, when there is growing opposition to whaling and Iceland is catching more whales than are deemed sustainable by the IWC [International Whaling Commission]?”

The IWC says that the annual sustainable catch for fin whales in the North Atlantic is 46, whereas Iceland has set a quota of 154.

Meanwhile, Loftsson and other Hvalur employees are becoming increasingly sensitive to outside criticism and have now removed the company phone numbers from ja.is, the Internet listing of Icelandic phone numbers.

The arrest and release of a Dutch activist in Japan has put in bad light this country’s refusal to heed international calls to limit traditional dolphin and whale hunting practices in favour of conservation.

“The arrest (of Erwin Vermeulen) was intended to intimidate us to leave Taiji (a fishing town where dolphins are corralled for mass slaughter),” said Scott West, director for investigations with the United States-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS).

“But the effect is the opposite as more volunteers are signing up to join our activities to stop dolphin and whale killing,” said West.

By sending foreign volunteers like Vermeulen to Taiji, SSCS has raised hackles in Japan, especially after it took a confrontational stance by publishing footage of bloody dolphin hunts in the southern Japan fishing town.

Taiji’s dolphin slaughters came under international glare in 2010 after a film on the annual ritual, titled ‘The Cove’, claimed the Academy Award for best documentary in that year.

While Vermeulen’s release on Feb. 22 proved that he had not pushed a guard on Dec. 16 as charged, activists say it did nothing to change deep-rooted attitudes to cetacean hunting in this country.

“Vermeulen won his case because he did not break the law. That does not mean anti-whalers have gained respect in Japan. The real test is whether the activists can stop Taiji from killing whales and dolphins,” said Kazue Suzuki, spokesperson for Greenpeace Japan.

While it is also opposed to whaling, Greenpeace Japan has distanced itself from Sea Shepherd’s confrontational approach, preferring to focus its campaign on issues such as mercury contamination of whale meat.

The local media portrays SSCS as an aggressive organisation, citing its use of laser beams and drones to harass whalers.

In a January editorial, ‘Japan Times’, a leading English language daily, accused the organisation of “crossing the line from peaceful protest and reasonable monitoring to violent confrontation that could harm a crew member on either side.”

But the controversy appears to be playing out in Sea Shepherd’s favour.

On Feb. 21 a federal court in Seattle denied an injunction sought by the Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research to restrain Sea Shepherd from carrying on its anti-whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean.

Western countries, including the U.S. and Australia, that respect an International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on whaling, want Japan to stop its ‘scientific expeditions’.

While the IWC, under a 1987 decision, allows the killing of 1,000 whales in the Antarctic Ocean for research purposes, annually, much of the meat ends up being sold commercially.

Activists have, over many years, accused Japan of taking advantage of the IWC quota to persist with commercial whaling, endangering the mammals.

Japan is also being accused of spending billions of dollars to prop up aging whalers and insisting on its right to carry on traditional whaling, much like Norway, another major whaling nation.

Sea Shepherd tactics have highlighted wasteful public funding to support an industry that is fast becoming obsolete. The organisation’s campaign forced Japan to call off its scientific whaling in the Antarctic last March.

In his book “How to Catch Dolphins,” released in 2010, Prof. Yusuke Sekiguchi, a whaling researcher, says Japan’s dolphin catches are based on a culture where animals are caught, killed and eaten with gratitude to providence.

Naoko Koyama of the Institute of Biodiversity in Japan, a Kyoto-based non-government oganisation which is working to stop dolphins from being captured alive for aquariums, said the clash over Japanese culling has overtones of a clash between Japanese and Western cultures.

“As protestors we need to be able to avoid getting into this narrow debate,” she said.

Koyama’s small organisation of 15 members bases its campaign on spreading facts about the negative impact on wild mammals when imprisoned in aquariums for commercial profits.

“The results have been encouraging as the people who listen to us become supporters of our organisation,” she said.

Iwao Takayama, defence attorney for Vermeulen, said “foreign activists are talking of respecting the law, the basis for the victory in the lawsuit. But to buy respect in Japan, it is important to try to talk it out, preferably in Japanese.”

Takayama said prosecutors tried hard to present the case against Vermeulen as one between SSCS and the Japanese government. “It was obvious they resorted to this to appeal to Japanese sentiments,” he said.

(END)

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Mar 2 2012 (IPS)

The arrest and release of a Dutch activist in Japan has put in bad light this country’s refusal to heed international calls to limit traditional dolphin and whale hunting practices in favour of conservation.

“The arrest (of Erwin Vermeulen) was intended to intimidate us to leave Taiji (a fishing town where dolphins are corralled for mass slaughter),” said Scott West, director for investigations with the United States-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS).

“But the effect is the opposite as more volunteers are signing up to join our activities to stop dolphin and whale killing,” said West.

By sending foreign volunteers like Vermeulen to Taiji, SSCS has raised hackles in Japan, especially after it took a confrontational stance by publishing footage of bloody dolphin hunts in the southern Japan fishing town.

Taiji’s dolphin slaughters came under international glare in 2010 after a film on the annual ritual, titled ‘The Cove’, claimed the Academy Award for best documentary in that year.

While Vermeulen’s release on Feb. 22 proved that he had not pushed a guard on Dec. 16 as charged, activists say it did nothing to change deep-rooted attitudes to cetacean hunting in this country.

“Vermeulen won his case because he did not break the law. That does not mean anti-whalers have gained respect in Japan. The real test is whether the activists can stop Taiji from killing whales and dolphins,” said Kazue Suzuki, spokesperson for Greenpeace Japan.

While it is also opposed to whaling, Greenpeace Japan has distanced itself from Sea Shepherd’s confrontational approach, preferring to focus its campaign on issues such as mercury contamination of whale meat.

The local media portrays SSCS as an aggressive organisation, citing its use of laser beams and drones to harass whalers.

In a January editorial, ‘Japan Times’, a leading English language daily, accused the organisation of “crossing the line from peaceful protest and reasonable monitoring to violent confrontation that could harm a crew member on either side.”

But the controversy appears to be playing out in Sea Shepherd’s favour.

On Feb. 21 a federal court in Seattle denied an injunction sought by the Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research to restrain Sea Shepherd from carrying on its anti-whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean.

Western countries, including the U.S. and Australia, that respect an International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on whaling, want Japan to stop its ‘scientific expeditions’.

While the IWC, under a 1987 decision, allows the killing of 1,000 whales in the Antarctic Ocean for research purposes, annually, much of the meat ends up being sold commercially.

Activists have, over many years, accused Japan of taking advantage of the IWC quota to persist with commercial whaling, endangering the mammals.

Japan is also being accused of spending billions of dollars to prop up aging whalers and insisting on its right to carry on traditional whaling, much like Norway, another major whaling nation.

Sea Shepherd tactics have highlighted wasteful public funding to support an industry that is fast becoming obsolete. The organisation’s campaign forced Japan to call off its scientific whaling in the Antarctic last March.

In his book “How to Catch Dolphins,” released in 2010, Prof. Yusuke Sekiguchi, a whaling researcher, says Japan’s dolphin catches are based on a culture where animals are caught, killed and eaten with gratitude to providence.

Naoko Koyama of the Institute of Biodiversity in Japan, a Kyoto-based non-government oganisation which is working to stop dolphins from being captured alive for aquariums, said the clash over Japanese culling has overtones of a clash between Japanese and Western cultures.

“As protestors we need to be able to avoid getting into this narrow debate,” she said.

Koyama’s small organisation of 15 members bases its campaign on spreading facts about the negative impact on wild mammals when imprisoned in aquariums for commercial profits.

“The results have been encouraging as the people who listen to us become supporters of our organisation,” she said.

Iwao Takayama, defence attorney for Vermeulen, said “foreign activists are talking of respecting the law, the basis for the victory in the lawsuit. But to buy respect in Japan, it is important to try to talk it out, preferably in Japanese.”

Takayama said prosecutors tried hard to present the case against Vermeulen as one between SSCS and the Japanese government. “It was obvious they resorted to this to appeal to Japanese sentiments,” he said.

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