Sarah Clarke, ABC News 14 Nov 07;
In just a week or so the Japanese whaling fleet will set sail to the Southern Ocean for the controversial annual whale cull, all in the name of science.
This year the whalers are targeting more than 1,000 minkes and 50 fin whales. And for the first time, the grisly quota will include humpbacks.
The inclusion of this magnificent creature has angered many Australians and reignited an international furore, but the Japanese argue they must kill humpbacks to find out their genetic make-up.
Now scientists in Australia say they have got the evidence to shoot that claim down. They have developed a technique that they say delivers all the answers without bloodshed.
As the annual hunt approaches, humpbacks - which attract thousands of tourists to whale-watching spots like Queensland's Hervey Bay - now face the threat of harpoons for the first time in more than 30 years.
The whales migrate south every year, and on their way they turn the bay into a playground where the mothers approach the boats with their calves and interact with the whale-watchers.
Southern Cross University scientist Dr Peter Harrison says they shouldn't be killed.
"We were really shocked to learn that the Japanese were planning to start targeting humpback whales because it makes no scientific sense," he said.
But Japanese Fisheries Agency spokesman Hideki Moronuki argues that killing whales is the only way to get accurate scientific data on the whale's sex, its ability to reproduce and, most importantly, its age.
"The best way to get scientific information about whales is a combination of lethal and non-lethal research," he said.
"With those two researches, we can get much more information for the appropriate management of whales."
Opponents argue that Japan's so-called scientific whaling is a cover for selling and eating whale meat. They say killing for science is a sham.
DNA analysis
Dr Harrison and his team of researchers believe they have developed a humane alternative. They are working on a reliable method of getting the scientific data they need without killing the whale.
"It's much better to have an approximate age of a living whale than a more exact age of a dead whale," Dr Harrison said.
Each year as the whales migrate along the east coast of Australia, this group of scientists keep count of the whale pods en route. The real work begins when the whale breaches or launches out of the water.
The sheer weight of the hit means it often sheds flakes of skin.
Using a kitchen sieve strapped to a piece of wood, scientists scoop up what is left behind, and the DNA in the skin flakes reveal the whale's genetic make-up.
"The skin samples can give you the genetic identity of the whale, they can tell you the relationships to the other whales, who's the father, who's the mother, etcetera," Dr Harrison said.
"They can tell you the sex of the whales and when our research is complete, we'll also be able to add an age factor to that information."
In the lab, Dr Harrison and his researchers are unlocking the clues to the whale's age, testing a large number of skin samples.
He says they have taken the DNA test one step further, examining the tips of the chromosomes, where they can distinguish between calves and the adults.
"It's a new way of identifying the age of large whales, and it can be applied not only to humpback whales but once that's successful we then plan to apply it to a whole range of other species like blue whales and some of the other international whales," he said.
Knowing a whale's exact age will help scientists get a better picture of how well the humpback is recovering and how to better manage their population. It is estimated that about 10,000 whales travel along the east coast each year.
Tracking with photos
Wally Franklin from the Oceania Project has set up one of the most comprehensive photographic databases of humpbacks in the world. He says commercial whaling decimated the humpback population.
"Prior to the last period of commercial whaling they numbered probably in the order of 40,000," he said.
"They were reduced to about 100 to 150 individuals so they were almost made extinct.
"It's taken them 40 years to claw their way back to recovery and will probably take another 60 years for them to get back to anywhere the numbers that they were prior to whaling."
Mr Franklin says the photos are a way of keeping track of the whales.
"We're photographing their bodies, their dorsal fins and... the underside flukes and this information is effectively a natural tagging of these whales," he said.
Over the past 14 years, Mr Franklin and his wife Trish have taken 35,000 photos and have a catalogue of 2,000 flukes. They can now match the whale's markings with the past photos, giving every whale an identity.
Trish Franklin says the information is very important.
"The more we get to know these individual whales over the years, and see how many times they're giving birth and so on, you get a fair idea of the breeding group," she said.
"So it's really important to keep track on these beautiful creatures and also see who are the main escorts and what intricacies are there in a pod of whales."
Over the coming weeks Japan's whaling fleet will again set sail for the Southern Ocean. This year the catch will include 50 humpbacks.
Mr Moronuki from Japan's Fisheries Agency defends the program.
"It's not enough to get samples of minke whales. We need information on other whale species such as humpback whale and fin whale," he said.
Cull threatens population
Mick McIntyre from the International Fund for Animal Welfare says the cull will devastate the humpback population.
"The whalers are going to concentrate on the biggest whales, and the biggest whales in the humpback species are the mature reproducing females," he said.
"So you've got, if you like, a double effect on the population."
Also at stake is a whale-watching industry worth at least $350 million per year in Australia.
Mr Franklin says many humpbacks alive today have only known humans and boats to be benign.
"You've got to remember that probably 80 per cent of this group of whales is under 20 years old so they have no memory of the prior whaling period and they've grown up in an environment where interaction with whales, whale boats and people is safe," he said.
Dr Harrison and his team of scientists believe the final results of their groundbreaking research cannot come soon enough.
"It will literally destroy the last vestige of excuse that the Japanese use for their so-called scientific research program," he said.
"What we're saying is you don't need to kill whales in order to age them."
Mr McIntyre agrees.
"Whaling is outdated, it's outmoded, it's for products that nobody needs and it's incredibly inhumane and cruel," he said.
Legal query over Japan's whale kill
Andrew Darby, The Age
PRESSURE is increasing on Australia to back stronger action against Japan over its Antarctic whaling, with a legal panel advising that a Japanese plan to kill humpback whales breaches international wildlife trade law.
The advice comes as time runs out to halt the Japanese whaling fleet, which could be harpooning the animals in the Southern Ocean in a month.
The London Panel, assembled by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, pins its hopes on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which protects humpbacks from any trade.
In this case, the panel says, "trade" includes Japanese whaling boats catching and landing whales in international waters.
Even though Japan claims its planned 1035-whale kill is for scientific research, the panel says its thinly disguised commercial nature means the Japanese Government could not exempt itself under CITES regulations. Action against it could either be taken in CITES, or in an international court.
"Japan's repeated assertion that its whaling activities are legal is incorrect and misleading," said the panel co-ordinator, professor Alberto Szekely.
The major Australian parties have conflicting positions on how to halt the humpback kill.
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Government shared the frustration of all Australians in wanting to see the end of Japanese whaling.
"We believe that it can only be solved through strong and sustained international effort," he said. "We have examined options for international legal action but have judged it to date as likely to be counter-productive to our cause."
Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett has been extensively briefed on legal opinions to take on the whalers, offered over the past year by three different international panels. He said recently that Labor wanted "serious commitments to a range of legal options, pulling out all stops in international courts to end the slaughter of whales".
Greens leader Bob Brown backed legal action, as well as Labor plans to monitor the fleet using Australian ships or aircraft. The Greens also wanted the suspension of free trade talks with Japan.
In Tokyo, Fisheries Agency officials have repeatedly dismissed the threat of legal action. "Japan's position in the International Whaling Commission is fully consistent with international law and science," said a recent briefing note by Joji Morishita, leader of the Japanese IWC delegation.
The whaling fleet's departure from Japan is imminent, perhaps later today, environmental sources said.
The factory ship Nisshin Maru, repaired after a fire in the Ross Sea killed one crewman last season, will be joined on the four-week voyage south by another newly-launched chaser boat — evidence of Japanese commitment to a return to full-scale commercial whaling.
Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are expected to mount separate pursuits of the Japanese fleet over the summer.
