Australia: Japan's whaling program a sham
Australian officials say a 10-year project examining whales off Australia's Antarctic territory prove Japan's whaling program has no scientific basis.
Australia Minister for the Environment Ian Campbell says the project gained needed information without killing any whales, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.
"It demonstrates once and for all, if it needed to be demonstrated, that the so-called scientific programs of the countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland are a sham," Campbell said.
Campbell said the information gained about whales' behaviors and eating patterns is the same as Japan says it is gathering, but Japan argues it needs to kill whales in order to study them.
He told the Morning Herald he plans to present the research results to the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission later this year.
There has been a global moratorium on commercial whaling in effect since 1987, but Japan whales yearly under its own scientific permits and despite international opposition, the newspaper said.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International