An International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on commercial whaling has in place since 1986, but has not stopped this practice. The Japanese government states that thousands of whales are hunted each year for scientific research, totaling 23,000 dolphins and small whales.

Many environmental groups believe it isn’t necessary to kill the whales to obtain scientific data. “There is no need to kill whales to study them. ‘Research’ whaling is just commercial whaling under another name,” said John Hocevar, oceans specialist for Greenpeace.

Meanwhile, the majority of whale meat finds its way to supermarkets, restaurants and even school lunches. The health risks are very high as this meat can have up to 16 times the mercury levels advised by the health ministry.

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In an effort to build consensus, the chair person of the conference urged for there to be little debate and no voting at the meeting this year. The goal is to “pay it forward,” and use any additional good will that is created this year at next year’s meeting with the hope that more can be accomplished. Many environmentalists find the chairman’s plan to be intolerable, as they claim that Japan is using “scientific research” as an excuse to hunt approximately 1,000 whales each year. But Japan isn’t the only country ignoring a 1986 ban on commercial whaling that was agreed upon by the commission.

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Usually.

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“Are you Japanese?” she retorted. And that was that.

It’s the best rebuff I’ve heard to the bevy of Korean men who equate blonde hair with instant gratification. But why did it repel him with such shear efficiency? Or, put another way, what’s so bad about being called Japanese?

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However if you haven’t turned on a TV or computer over the past little while, I’ll run it down for you. Photos released by the Australian Customs Agency late last week have depicted a pair of whales – theorized to be a mother and her baby calf – being hauled on board the Yuishin Maru.

Scientists have pegged the age of the calf at less than one year old, and while the Japanese are saying that the pair weren’t mother and calf, it seems to be a bit of a moot point. The reality though is that they probably were, considering they were hauled in together (it is unlikely that a mother would allow her calf away from her at such a tender age).

It comes amidst a wash of videos released by the Australian Customs Agency. The videos depict multiple whales being harpooned, blood flowing, splashing about trying to dislodge the harpoon. The footage was captured by crewmembers on speed boats from the Customs ship Oceanic Viking, which has been trailing the Japanese whaling fleet.

The sheer absurdity of this all is that the Japanese will continue to exploit the loophole existent within Article 8 of the Whaling Convention. It specifically says that whales are fair game if part of scientific research; that in itself is reprehensible.

Without pointing to countless experts, scientists and evidence that renders the killing of whales for science as irresponsible and disgusting, common sense would seem to prevail.

But sadly, it seems that there are no such people with the trait of common sense that many of us hold so dear, inside the Japanese government, or international ruling bodies. And it doesn’t help when you have mindless voices across the internet proclaiming that we should leave Japan alone for adhering to a tradition.

As I wrote in a post at my blog awhile ago addressing the anti-environmentalism on the internet, tradition is not an excuse, otherwise we’d still be witnessing scalping in North America.

Australia’s environmental minister Peter Garret believes that these “distressing” pictures will continue to build a legal case against the Japanese “research.” “It is explicitly clear from these images that this is the indiscriminate killing of whales, where you have a whale and its calf killed in this way,” Garrett told reporters in Sydney.

Garret also hinted that it can take up to 15 minutes for these animals to die, from when the harpoon is launched and they are dragged aboard the ship.

It is no surprise that the Japanese have spoken out against these images, but in a way that simply makes them look like incompetent fools. “The Government of Australia photographs and the media reports have created a dangerous emotional propaganda that could cause serious damage to the relationship between our two countries,” said the Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese government-affiliated organization that oversees the hunt, in a press release.

Well of course it’s bloody-well going to affect our relations, especially when people on both sides of the water get to see just what your “scientists” are doing to creatures of the ocean!

Another Japanese official, Hideki Moronuki, chief of the Japanese Fishing Agency’s whaling section, spoke out, denying that the photo depicted that of a mother and a calf, saying it was not a calf at all.

“The fleet is engaged in random sampling, which means they are taking both large and small whales. This is not a parent and calf,” Moronuki said.

Unluckily for Moronuki there is a weight of scientific opinion against him, that simply adds to the absurdity of Japan’s actions.

Rant endeth here, but let us all ensure that if there is a petition or survey that can be signed, a councilman or woman that can be persuaded, that we do so. Japan must, simply must admit that they are doing nothing more than killing whales for pleasure, as the warehouses full of unused whale meat would suggest they sure aren’t doing it for food.

However, Japanese whaling fleets have already left harbor to hunt the whales for meat in this sanctuary as they have done increasingly since 1997 in defiance of international bans on whaling.

Each year, Japanese whalers slaughter more and more whales. This year, the Japanese whaling industry has vowed to kill the greatest number of whales yet, about 1000 in all. These numbers will be made up of near-threatened Minke whales and 50 endangered Fin whales.

But this year, they will not be alone on the rough seas against the Japanese whalers. Australia’s new government is joining Greenpeace in saying “enough is enough.” As Josh Hill writes, this pressure is already beginning to bear fruits. Japan has agreed to suspend–at least for the moment—its plans to kill an additional 50 threatened humpback whales.

Australia is sending ships usually reserved for tracking down marine poachers to monitor the whaling vessels. That’s not all. There will also be eyes in the sky as an Australian surveillance plane record the whaler’s every action from above. This is all just part of a larger effort that Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, hopes will help put an end to Japan’s horrible whale hunt once and for all.

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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society renames one of its ships “Steve Irwin.”

Image credit: William West / AFP-Getty Images