International Marine Mammal Project
At the same time that Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation was proposing a massive salt plant on the shores of Baja's San Ignacio Lagoon, a major calving sanctuary for gray whales, the Japanese government is preparing to resume the commercial slaughter of gray whales and international trade in gray whale meat. It is hard to believe that this is a coincidence. Earth Island Institute issued a press release on January 20th condemning the two attacks on gray whales by Japan. Mexican President Zedillo canceled the salt plant project on March 2.
In October 1999, Japan sent a formal proposal to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the body that regulates trade in endangered species, to remove the gray whale from the protected list and allow international trade in gray whale meat. This is a preliminary step in the effort by Japan to renew harpooning of gray whales and encourage other countries to resume whaling so the meat can be sold to Japan. Japan is the largest consumer of whale meat in the world.
The Mitsubishi Corp. was deeply involved in the decimation of various whale species during commercial whaling operations from the 1800s through 1986. Mitsubishi was a major stockholder in the Taiyo Company (now called Maruha), which slaughtered hundreds of thousands of whales until international outcry led to the moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985. Shortly after the international whaling moratorium was imposed, the government of Japan bought out Taiyo's and other commercial whaling operations and has consistently sought to circumvent and overturn the whaling moratorium ever since. If CITES delists the gray whale, Mitsubishi could have then claimed that the gray whales are no longer in need of international protection and therefore that the now-canceled salt plant should be permitted on the shores of the whales' birthing lagoon in Baja.
Japan Assaults California Gray Whales!