On Nov. 9, 1999, Japan's whale research fleet departed for the Antarctic to begin the 13th year of its research program. The research program involves both a sighting survey whose primary purpose is the estimation of trends in abundance, and a sampling component that involves the take of up to 440 minke whales from a population of 760,000 animals. Since the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee has calculated that 2,000 minke whales could be harvested from the Antarctic each year for the next 100 years with no risk to the stock, the take of only 440 whales for research purposes is obviously not a conservation issue. Yet Greenpeace has used Japan's whale research program in the Antarctic as a stage for its antiwhaling campaigns that misinform the public for fundraising purposes.
Beginning in December, the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise followed and harassed Japan's whale research vessels in order to portray and photograph themselves as saviors of endangered whales. But minke whales are clearly not endangered, and the reckless antics of Greenpeace activists during this campaigns caused a collision between the Arctic Sunrise and the Japanese research vessel and risked the safety and lives of crews and scientists.
If Greenpeace told the truth about whales and whaling, the public would know that most whales are not endangered, and that Japan's whale research program in the Antarctic is perfectly legal and has a sound scientific basis. The public would also then know that it is possible to resume commercial whaling in a sustainable manner.