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You are here: Home News Dutch News Japan urges Netherlands to handle whaling activists
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27/10/2009Japan urges Netherlands to handle whaling activists

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has repeatedly harassed Japanese whaling vessels.

Tokyo – Japan on Monday urged the Netherlands to take action against the Dutch-registered flagship of the Sea Shepherd environmentalist group over its attacks on Japanese whalers in the Antarctic.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he made the request when he met his Dutch counterpart Jan Peter Balkenende, now on his four-day visit to the country.

"I asked as a flag state to handle the obstruction of maritime safety," Hatoyama told reporters at a joint news conference with Balkenende.

The Dutch premier replied: "As to whaling, I explained the Dutch government is working on a change in the law that would make it possible to take adequate measures against Dutch ships that commit unlawful acts."

He added: "We disagree about whaling... but we do not disagree on the importance of safety at sea."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has repeatedly harassed Japanese whaling vessels as the group's ship rammed into Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters and its crew threw bottles filled with chemicals.

Japan hunts whales by using a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows whales to be killed for "lethal research," and Tokyo often accuses western critics of insensitivity toward its culture.

AFP / Expatica


2 reactions to this article

A. Young posted: 2009-11-04 01:12:29

Sea safety is one thing, but whales have been around before humans even grew legs. 20 million years. They are huge majestic creatures, and deserve respect from the life forms that came after them. They are mankind's elders, and deserve to swim freely in their oceans. The Japanese people are the only ones left with their savage views. I am sure they have other things to eat besides these gentle giants. Hopefully one day everyone will see through the same pinhole, before they are all slaughtered.

A. Young posted: 2009-11-04 01:15:03

海の安全は1つの事であるが、人間が足を育てた前にクジラはあった。 20,000,000年。彼らは巨大で荘重な創造物、それらの後に来た生命体からの点に値する。 それらはmankind'である; sの年長者は、彼らの海洋で自由に泳ぐことを値し。 日本人は彼らの野蛮な眺めと残唯一の物である。私は彼らがこれらの穏やかな巨人のほかに食べるべき他の事を有することをことを確かめる。うまくいけば1日皆は彼らがすべて屠殺される前に、同じピンホールを見通す。

2 reactions to this article

A. Young posted: 2009-11-04 01:12:29

Sea safety is one thing, but whales have been around before humans even grew legs. 20 million years. They are huge majestic creatures, and deserve respect from the life forms that came after them. They are mankind's elders, and deserve to swim freely in their oceans. The Japanese people are the only ones left with their savage views. I am sure they have other things to eat besides these gentle giants. Hopefully one day everyone will see through the same pinhole, before they are all slaughtered.

A. Young posted: 2009-11-04 01:15:03

海の安全は1つの事であるが、人間が足を育てた前にクジラはあった。 20,000,000年。彼らは巨大で荘重な創造物、それらの後に来た生命体からの点に値する。 それらはmankind'である; sの年長者は、彼らの海洋で自由に泳ぐことを値し。 日本人は彼らの野蛮な眺めと残唯一の物である。私は彼らがこれらの穏やかな巨人のほかに食べるべき他の事を有することをことを確かめる。うまくいけば1日皆は彼らがすべて屠殺される前に、同じピンホールを見通す。

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