As soon as Japan’s official withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was sealed on 30 June 2019, the Japanese government gave the green light on 1 July for shooting 227 baleen whales for commercial purposes. The whalers did not have to be asked twice, so that within a few hours the first minke already whale fell victim to the hunters’ explosive harpoons.
There were intensive media reactions around the world. SHIFTING VALUES founder Nicolas Entrup is part of the team of marine conservation organisation OceanCare which is vehemently campaigning internationally for putting an end to whaling. He participates in IWC conferences since the year 2000.
OceanCare’s reaction to the new developments was picked up widely in German-speaking countries. News agencies (APA, dpa), online portals (Spiegel, FAZ …), daily newspapers (Die Presse, Wiener Zeitung …), radio stations (FM4 …) as well as TV (ORF, Deutsche Welle …) reported on the organisation’s assessment of how the resumption of commercial whaling by Japan will affect whale populations as well as international politics.
Read OceanCare’s most recent press release here:
https://www.oceancare.org/en/japan-begins-commercial-hunting-of-over-200-great-whales/
