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In a purely symbolic act but one that could inflame bilateral
ties, an Australian court ruled that a Japanese whaling company
broke environment laws by killing whales in Australia's Antarctic
waters.
The Federal Court of Australia ordered Japanese whaler Kyodo
Senpaku Kaisha Ltd stop killing whales in Australia's Antarctic
whale sanctuary, saying that unless it was "restrained" it would
continue to kill and injure whales.
But the court has no jurisdiction outside Australia and the
Japanese government denied the whalers were doing anything
illegal.
"According to the International Whaling Commission, what the
Japanese whaling fleet is doing in the South Pacific and Antarctic
region is legal," said Tomohiko Taniguchi, a spokesman at Japan's
Foreign Ministry.
An official at Japan's Fisheries Ministry declined to
comment.
An Australian fisheries ship is searching for the Japanese whaling
fleet to gather photographic evidence for an international court
case aimed at stopping Japan's annual "scientific" hunt.
Japan plans to hunt almost 1,000 minke and fin whales for research
over the Antarctic summer, but has abandoned the cull of 50
humpback whales after international condemnation and a formal
diplomatic protest by 31 nations.
Humane Society International (HSI) launched legal action against
Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd in 2004, seeking a federal court
injunction against harvesting in the Australian Whale
Sanctuary.
The hearing was derailed in 2005 when the Australian government
intervened on the grounds it could spark a diplomatic row with
Japan, arguing the matter of whaling was best left to
governments.
The full bench of the federal court ordered the proceedings
resume in 2006.
Federal court Judge Jim Allsop ruled on Tuesday the whaler had
"killed, injured, taken and interfered with Antarctic minke whales
and fin whales and injured, taken and interfered with humpback
whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary in contravention of...the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC)
Act."
Crossbow
Allsop said that while no humpback whales had been killed by the
whaling firm, there was evidence that biopsy samples were taken
from humpbacks using a crossbow.
"I am satisfied that this non-lethal method of sampling amounted to
injuring, interfering with and treating a cetacean within the
definition of the EPBC Act," he said.
While the whalers also killed whales outside Australian waters, a
"significant number of the whales were taken inside the Australian
Whale Sanctuary", Allsop said.
But the judge conceded there was little chance his ruling could be
enforced.
"Unless the respondent's vessels enter Australia, thus exposing
themselves to possible arrest or seizure, the applicant
acknowledges that there is no practical mechanism by which orders
of this court can be enforced," he said.
Australia's Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said he would be
looking carefully at the judgement to see if it could add weight to
an Australian government challenge to whaling in an international
tribunal.
"The Commonwealth wasn't a party to this case but our intention to
continue to have an overall, holistic and fair-dinkum approach to
opposing Japanese so-called scientific whaling is absolutely
clear," Garrett told reporters.
Japan has long resisted pressure to stop scientific whaling,
insisting whaling is a cherished cultural tradition. Its fleet has
killed 7,000 Antarctic minkes over the past 20 years.
Anti-whaling activists on Monday said they had chased the flagship
of Japan's whaling fleet from hunting grounds near Antarctica.
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