Sea Shepherd releases suppressed Australian Government whaling footage
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Novembre 28, 2017
It took five years, but Sea Shepherd Australia finally forced the release of footage the Australian government did not want their own people to see for fear of upsetting relations between Australia and Japan.
“The Australian Government has suppressed this footage for years,” said Jeff Hansen, Managing Director of Sea Shepherd Australia. “The main reason given was that the images of this horrific slaughter would harm diplomatic relationships with Japan. The Australian Government has chosen to side with the poachers instead of defending the whales of the Southern Ocean.”
Sea Shepherd has been a part of a joint effort fighting the Australian Government to release rare whaling footage obtained on a 2008 Australian Customs mission to the Antarctic. “Through the Freedom of Information (FOI) process we worked with the Environmental Defenders Office NSW and Humane Society International Australia to make sure the public could finally see what this taxpayer funded operation filmed,” said Hansen.
The Japanese whalers are in contempt of the Australian Federal Court and have been fined a million dollars that they refuse to pay. The Japanese whalers have been condemned by the International Whaling Commission and the International Court of Justice. The ICJ ruled that Japanese whaling operation were not scientific and thus illegal. Japan is defying the ICJ, the IWC, the Australian Federal Court.
“This footage shows the bloody brutality, cruelty and senseless killing of such beautiful, intelligent and majestic animals. These whales are hunted down, before being hit with an explosive harpoon that sends shrapnel through their bodies, while prongs come out so that the whale cannot escape. The whale dives to try and get back to the depths below, to its family, but it can’t as the whale killers retract the cable, slowly bringing the whale to the surface, thrashing about in pain before he/she gets to eyeball their killer, before being shot until finally dying, many minutes later in a sea of blood,” said Hansen.
“Sea Shepherd has been relentless in our opposition of the Japanese whaling fleet, filling a void in doing the job that the majority of Australian’s want to see done. Now is the time for the Australian Government to live up to its pre-election promises and send a vessel to oppose whaling by Japan. With the whaling fleet now in the killing grounds, the question must be asked, does the Australian Government represent the wishes of the people of Australian or Japan?”
Sea Shepherd is asking the Australian Government to do all it can to end whaling, by not only sending a ship to the Antarctic but to also take Japan to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, where Japan can be challenged over its activities as Japan is not meeting its international obligations to sustainably protect whales. The tribunal has a system of mandatory dispute settlement, one that's very difficult to opt out of and there is very little Japan could do about it,” concluded Hansen.
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Whaling footage with Jeff Hansen narration (Approx 3min. 109MB): https://minerva.seashepherdglobal.org/share.cgi?ssid=0o77ZGx
Raw whaling footage here (Approx 3min. 307MB): https://minerva.seashepherdglobal.org/share.cgi?ssid=0sn0JnB
The summary chronology, showing three FOI applications can be seen here: https://www.seashepherd.org.au/news-and-commentary/news/australians-have-every-right-to-see-2008-customs-whaling-footage.html
For more information about Sea Shepherd’s Whale Defense campaigns: http://bit.ly/2hXDxTz
General media inquiries and interviews contact for Australia:
Adam Burling
Sea Shepherd Australia Media
Tel +61 409472922
Email: adam@seashepherd.org.au
For further information, additional images and interview requests outside Australia contact:
Heather Stimmler, Sea Shepherd Global Media Director
E-mail: heather@seashepherdglobal.org Tel: +339 7719 7742
Sea Shepherd Global
Sea Shepherd is an international non-profit marine conservation movement using innovative tactics and direct action to defend, conserve and protect the worlds oceans and marine wildlife. Founded by Paul Watson in 1977, today Sea Shepherd is a worldwide movement with independent national and regional entities in over 20 countries. With the exception of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), they are united by a common mission through Sea Shepherd Global, based in Amsterdam, which coordinates communications, logistics and a fleet of five ships to cooperate on campaigns around the world. Sea Shepherd investigates and documents violations of international and national conservation law, and enforces conservation measures where legal authority exists. For more information, visit: http://www.seashepherdglobal.org/
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