Archive: Marine Wildlife

The “Whales Need US” coalition, an unprecedented joint effort of 20 US-based environmental, conservation and animal welfare organizations, representing more than 15 million people, today urged the Bush Administration to intensify its efforts to end commercial whaling.

New US poll results on attitudes toward whaling show the vast majority of the American public opposes commercial whaling and supports greater protection for whales, while polling data from Japan shows that a sizeable majority of the Japanese public do not support whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. A national survey of 1000 registered voters conducted on behalf of IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) by Market Strategies, Inc., in late March found:

• 78% oppose commercial whaling
• 78% are concerned about the hunting of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
• 59% would be more likely to vote for a Presidential candidate who took a firm stand against Japanese whaling
• More than 50% would be willing to stop buying Japanese products to convince the Japanese Government to stop its scientific research whaling

In a related initiative, the coalition praised the bi-partisan group of 56 members of Congress, led by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who sent a strongly worded letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, instructing them to fight harder for whale conservation and against commercial whaling at the upcoming International Whaling Commission meeting to be held this May in Anchorage, Alaska. The letter was also signed by the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), and expresses the views of the two committee chairmen with oversight authority of the US’s delegation to the IWC.

The IWC is the international body charged with managing the world’s whale populations.  A moratorium on commercial whaling was established in 1986 by the IWC, yet more than 20,000 whales have been killed since then for commercial purposes.

“With the IWC meeting being held on US soil for the first time since 1989, the upcoming meeting provides an opportunity for the United States to re-establish itself as a leader on whale conservation,” said Rep. Rahall.  “The United States has the opportunity to reverse the current trend within the commission and work with like-minded countries to safeguard the moratorium on commercial whaling and advance a strong conservation agenda that addresses the many and varied threats that confront the world’s whales and dolphins,” he continued.

The Whales Need US Coalition:

American Cetacean Society
Animal Welfare Institute
Cetacean Society International
The Cousteau Society
Defenders of Wildlife
Dolphin Connection
Earth Island Institute
Environmental Investigation Agency
Greenpeace USA
The Humane Society of the United States/Humane Society International
IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare)
International Wildlife Coalition
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Ocean Conservancy
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Sierra Club
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
The Whaleman Foundation
World Society for the Protection of Animals
World Wildlife Fund US

Conservation and animal welfare organizations have filed a legal challenge to the US Navy’s plan to use high-intensity, mid-frequency active sonar in antisubmarine exercises in Hawai’i’s waters. The planned sonar would emit blasts far louder than levels associated with mass whale strandings and fatalities.

The Navy has announced plans to use the sonar in up to twelve separate sets of Undersea Warfare Exercises (USWEXs) during 2007 and 2008 in Hawai’i’s waters, including within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and near the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Attorneys from Earthjustice filed suit in Hawai’i federal district court on behalf of Ocean Mammal Institute, the Animal Welfare Institute, KAHEA, Center for Biological Diversity, and Surfrider Foundation.

Marti Townsend of KAHEA said, “The Navy is not above the law. Just the reverse—as a government agency, the Navy should be setting an example. Protecting the country includes following its laws, not skirting them.”

NMFS, the agency responsible for protecting endangered marine life, relying almost entirely on the Navy’s assessments, made little effort to analyze the sonar’s effects or require the Navy to implement protective mitigation, such as that to which the Navy agreed for the 2006 RIMPAC exercises in Hawai’i. The plaintiffs have sued NMFS as well, for violating the Endangered Species Act.

The Animal Welfare Institute’s Susan Millward commented, “It’s disappointing that NMFS abdicated its responsibilities by allowing the Navy to decide for itself the mitigation it will use.” Dr. Marsha Green of Ocean Mammal Institute added, “The Navy knows protecting whales is possible—it used more protective mitigation in the 2006 RIMPAC exercises than it plans to use in these.”

Read the complaint

Background
Hawai’i is well known as the winter breeding grounds for thousands of endangered humpback whales, but endangered blue, fin, Northern Pacific right, sei, and sperm whales also are found here, along with thousands of whales and dolphins of other species that will be exposed to the sonar. A whale’s keen sense of hearing is vital in every aspect of its life history, including foraging for food, finding mates, bonding with offspring, communicating with other members of their species, navigating through lightless waters, and avoiding predators. Exposure to sonar blasts can cause serious injury or death caused by hemorrhages or other tissue trauma, temporary and permanent hearing loss, displacement from preferred habitat, and disruption of feeding, breeding, nursing, communication, sensing and other behaviors essential to survival.

In July 2004, more than 150 melon-headed whales congregated in the shallow waters of Hanalei Bay, Kaua’i during the Navy’s biennial RIMPAC exercises. The whales had to be herded back to open water by volunteers, and a young whale calf was found dead. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) concluded the Navy’s sonar transmissions were a “plausible, if not likely, contributing factor to the animals entering and remaining in the bay.” The Navy’s 2006 RIMPAC war games were halted by a court-ordered temporary restraining order, and the Navy agreed to implement mitigation measures. The Navy has failed to include most of that mitigation in the upcoming exercises. The Navy’s USWEX exercises will occur in addition to the 2008 RIMPAC war games.

Use of military sonar has been associated with strandings not only on Kaua’i, but in Greece (1996), the Bahamas (2000), Madeira (2000), Vieques (1998, 2002), the Canary Islands (2002, 2004), the northwest coast of the US (2003), and Spain (2006). Necropsies performed on whales stranded in the Bahamas and the Canary Islands (2002) revealed hemorrhaging around the brain and in other organs, most likely due to acoustic trauma from the use of high intensity sonar. The Navy itself concluded that for the Bahamas stranding “an acoustic… injury…caused the animals to strand…and subsequently die…”, and a report commissioned by the Navy stated that “the evidence of sonar causation [of whale beachings] is, in our opinion, completely convincing.” In 2004 and 2005, whales and dolphins stranded or died on the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, North Carolina, and Florida after use of high intensity sonar. The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, the world’s preeminent body of scientists studying whale populations, has found that the evidence linking mid-frequency sonar to the mass strandings and deaths of whales appears “overwhelming.”

The Navy acknowledged in its Environmental Assessment for the Hawai’i exercises that its sonar will reach whales at levels up to 215 dB – at least a hundred thousand times more intense than the levels at which the whales stranded in the Bahamas incident—and that the sonar will, at a minimum, likely significantly alter or cause the abandonment of the whales’ migration, surfacing, nursing, feeding, or sheltering behaviors. Recognizing it will harm whales in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Navy in January 2007 exempted itself from that law. The Navy nonetheless refused to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, refused to include protective mitigation, and dismissed as insignificant the impacts to thousands of marine mammals, including humpbacks nursing calves in Hawai’i’s protected nearshore waters. It also failed to comply with the coastal Zone Management Act and National Marine Sanctuaries Act.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to learn that Obi Sushi restaurant, located in Northern Virginia’s Reston Town Center, has retracted their decision to sell shark fin soup and other shark dishes.

AWI President Cathy Liss said, “This is great news and it’s a perfect example of the importance of being an educated consumer. Other restaurants should take note of the fact that US consumers do not want shark fin soup in their restaurants.”

On July 20th, Obi Sushi restaurant announced their decision to offer shark fin soup and other shark fin dishes in “celebration” of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week program. Immediately following this news, AWI wrote to Obi Sushi, asking that they refrain from selling shark dishes because of the inhumane manner in which the fins are acquired and the precarious state of the targeted sharks. After a follow up call the next day, AWI was informed of the restaurants decision to stop selling any shark dishes in light of the plethora of calls they received voicing conservation and animal welfare concerns.

“This is a significant victory and we commend Obi Sushi for their compassionate decision,” said Serda Ozbenian, an AWI research assistant who works on marine issues, “However, it is appalling how many restaurants in the US still sell shark fin soup, and we will work diligently to ensure that they all stop.”

In March, AWI began a campaign to uncover restaurants selling shark fin products by educating restaurant owners and diners about the cruel nature of shark finning. The AWI website lists names and contact information of restaurants currently selling the soup, urging consumers to voice their distaste to the management.

This Thursday the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST) will stage a colorful enactment outside the headquarters of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration Fisheries Division (NMFS).

The “LFA Street Theater Spectacular,” will mark NMFS’ issuance of a rulemaking and Letter of Authorization allowing the Navy to use Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar in over 70 percent of the world’s oceans for the next five years. Military active sonar has been implicated in a slew of marine mammal deaths and strandings and the groups are appalled that the Administration’s lust for military dominance is taking precedence over responsible environmental stewardship.

“Currently, the Navy is restricted by a court ruling in its use of this incredibly loud and pervasive sonar, but after Thursday, it will be able to use it pretty much where it pleases,” said Russell Wray of COAST. “In the trials for LFA, short-term tests were done on only four baleen whale species, who were exposed, for the most part, to lower received levels of sonar, yet the Navy and NMFS chose to dismiss or ignore significant behavioral reactions to the noise, and have improperly extrapolated those results to apply to all marine mammals in the world’s oceans.”

LFA sonar has a source level of 215 decibels (dB)—10 million times more energy than the 145 dB level that the Navy claims is safe for human divers. LFA sonar has a low wavelength and consequently can travel for many hundreds of miles, a property used by some whales in their vocalizations to communicate with each other over huge ocean expanses.

“The uncontrolled widespread use of LFA sonar threatens to change the make-up of our seas forever,” said AWI Marine Animal Research Assistant Serda Ozbenian. “We cannot let this milestone go by without making our disappointment in our government known.”

The Animal Welfare Institute has sent letters of warning to restaurants in major cities that offer shark fin soup on their menus. In addition, the organization is working to expand its campaign from Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco to the entire nation.

“The movie Jaws may have encouraged beachgoers to look for fins in the ocean, but we’re encouraging consumers to look for fins before ordering food at the local Chinese restaurant,” said AWI’s Serda Ozbenian. “If shark fins are on the menu, people must raise an objection and look for somewhere else to eat.”

Recent estimates show that over 70 million sharks are being slaughtered for their fins annually.  Fins are typically removed while the sharks are still conscious.  Because of the high value of shark fins and the relatively low value of their meat, the bodies are discarded back into the ocean, where the animals endure slow, agonizing deaths.

Even the fins from threatened species including the basking, porbeagle, dogfish, gulper and hammerhead sharks are being marketed. Since sharks are top predators, their decimation creates a ripple effect throughout the marine food web, impairing the balance of the ocean ecosystem.  Sharks are particularly vulnerable because they produce few young and mature late.

The restaurant blacklist and a coupon with a message in both English and Chinese requesting businesses that carry the product to “Let Sharks Keep Their Fins…Say No to Shark Fin Soup” are available on the AWI website. As consumers locate offending restaurants not yet listed, they should email the names of the establishments to nosharkfinning@awionline.org.

The Animal Welfare Institute is outraged by the killing of a gray whale in the Strait of Juan de Fuca by members of the Makah Tribe, condemning it as an illegal, cruel, and callous act that must not go unpunished.

“The American public should be aghast and angry that five members of the Makah Tribe have harpooned and shot a harmless, sentient and intelligent gray whale,” states Cathy Liss, President of the Animal Welfare Institute.  “This tragedy was committed in violation of Federal and State laws and we expect and insist that the state, federal, and tribal law enforcement authorities arrest, charge, and prosecute all involved in this incident to the fullest extent.”

Though not supported by all tribal members, the Makah Tribe, with the assistance of the US government and at taxpayer expense, has been trying to kill gray whales for erroneous subsistence needs since 1996. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has twice ruled that the government’s required environmental analyses were deficient and has prohibited the hunt, although members of the Tribe were able to kill one gray whale in 1999 in the midst of the legal wranglings. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is now preparing a more detailed environmental document and addressing other legal matters to facilitate future whaling by members of the Makah Tribe through a waiver process under the Marine Mammal Protection Act—the law enacted to protects all whales from harm by US citizens. In May of this year, the US secured—albeit illegally—a quota to kill gray whales from the International Whaling Commission the body responsible for the management of the great whales on behalf of those Makah tribal members who desire to kill whales.

“The US government must react to this brazen act of lawlessness and cruelty by terminating its current efforts to allow for future whaling by the Makah Tribe,” explains D.J. Schubert, AWI’s wildlife biologist. “AWI will be officially petitioning NMFS to cease wasting taxpayer dollars and demonstrate the seriousness of this crime by terminating its efforts to help the Tribe to whale and instead to permanently protect the gray whales, both resident and migratory, who inhabit waters in and around Neah Bay.” He adds.

Makah Tribe Whaling Chronology

1855 The United States Government (USG) and Makah Tribe entered into the Treaty of Neah Bay which secured “[t]he right of taking fish and of whaling or sealing at usual and accustomed grounds and stations…in common with all citizens of the United States.”

Late 1920s The Makah Tribe ceased whaling after the population of eastern North Pacific (ENP) gray whales significantly declined, due largely to commercial whaling. After the Tribe stopped whaling, its subsistence need for whale meat disappeared.^[1]

1946 USG signed the ICRW and joined the IWC. In 1949 it enacted the Whaling Convention Act (WCA) implementing the ICRW and making it unlawful to whale in violation of the ICRW, the IWC Schedule, or a United States Secretary of Commerce.

1970 Gray whales were listed as “endangered” under the United States Endangered Species Conservation Act, a precursor to the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 1972 the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was enacted prohibiting the unpermitted taking of marine mammals except by “Alaskan Natives…for subsistence, or [f]or purposes of creating and selling authentic native articles of handicraft and clothing…to an Indian, Aleut or Eskimo.”

1994 USG removed ENP gray whales from the ESA listing and began a five-year monitoring program.

1995 The Makah Tribe notified the USG of its interest in resuming the hunting of ENP gray whales for a “ceremonial and subsistence harvest”^[2] and asked the USG to seek IWC approval for a quota.

1997 After submitting and then withdrawing a proposal for a quota of ENP gray whales at the 1996 IWC meeting, the USG submitted a joint proposal with the Russian Federation for 620 ENP gray whales, of which 20 were for the Makah Tribe. The proposal was approved by IWC consensus after the insertion into the ICRW Schedule of the term “whose traditional subsistence and cultural needs have been recognized.”

1997 A lawsuit was filed against the USG challenging the adequacy of the USG’s compliance with domestic law, namely the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires adequate and transparent analysis of federal actions with significant environment impact.^[3]

1998 With litigation ongoing, NMFS allocated the quota to the Makah Tribe the 1999 season under the WCA. In the same year, summary judgment was made in favor of the USG. The decision was appealed.

1999 A single ENP gray whale was struck and landed. Later that year the USG ended its 5-year monitoring program of the ENP gray whales and concluded that the population should remain de-listed from the ESA.

2000 An appeal against the lawsuit judgment was successful and prevented the Makah Tribe from whaling legally until the USG complied with the law. The USG recommenced its domestic legal obligations and completed its NEPA responsibilities in 2001. A further lawsuit was filed in 2002 challenging the adequacy of the NEPA compliance and citing a violation of the MMPA.^[4]

2002 With litigation ongoing, the USG submitted a successful joint proposal with the Russian Federation to the IWC for an aboriginal subsistence quota of 620 ENP gray whales, of which 20 were for the Makah Tribe for the period 2003 through 2007.

2002 After initial summary judgment in favor of the USG, the decision was overturned on appeal. The USG was forced to recommence its NEPA obligations and require that the Makah Tribe seek a waiver to the MMPA to hunt whales. Illegal whaling by members of the Makah Tribe was stopped.

2004 The IWC adopted by consensus a USG co-sponsored proposal to strike the language relating to the IWC having to recognize the “traditional aboriginal subsistence and cultural needs” of aboriginal subsistence whalers of ENP gray whales, that had been inserted prior to the approval of the 1997 Russian-US ENP gray whale quota request.^[5]

2005 Members of the Makah Tribe requested a waiver to the MMPA. The USG commenced its domestic legal obligations under NEPA and the MMPA. The process is ongoing and may take at least a year to conclude, assuming the documentation is in order and depending on any legal challenges to the final decision.

2007 The USG submitted a joint proposal with the Russian Federation to the IWC for 620 ENP gray whales, of which 20 would be for the Makah Tribe.^[6] The proposal was approved by IWC consensus though again the subsistence nature of the hunt was questioned.

2007 Five members of the Makah Tribe, including members of the Makah Whaling Crew and the Crew Captain hunt and kill a gray whale in the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.

Actress Hayden Panettiere, who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC’s hit series Heroes, will lead a rally against a resumption of commercial whaling at 1 p.m. this Sunday, January 27, in Washington, DC’s Dupont Circle (event flyer). The event kicks off a whirlwind trip to the Nation’s Capital for Panettiere, who will later speak with policymakers and students to encourage increased whale protection.

Panettiere is a spokesperson for the Save the Whales Again! campaign, which is calling on the United States to stand up for whales at the International Whaling Commission and take diplomatic and economic action against whaling countries. After the rally, she will speak at Georgetown University. On Monday, she will meet with representatives from the embassies of Japan, Norway and Iceland to question their outdated whaling practices.

“Whales face increasing threats from climate change, ship strikes, entanglement in nets, and chemical and noise pollution, yet Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to kill them in increasing numbers,” Panettiere said. “I am looking forward to talking with officials who actually make and carry out our policies, as well as fellow young people who will be voting in the upcoming election—I want our voice to be heard.”

On Tuesday, Panettiere will speak at a 1 p.m. press conference hosted by House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Chair Nick Rahall (D-WV). She will be joined by Rahall and Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in urging the US Government to reinstate its former leadership role protecting whales from commercial slaughter. An evening reception with Members of Congress and their staff is the final stop on her trip.

“Over 25,000 whales have been slaughtered for profit since the ban on commercial whaling was instituted. The United States is the current chair of the IWC and it must stand up to whaling countries and use its position to lead the world in conserving whales and their habitats,” said Susan Millward, director of marine animal programs at the Animal Welfare Institute, a co-founder of the Save the Whales Again! campaign.

Despite the public’s interest in protecting whales, US leadership on whale issues has significantly declined over the past five years. Most recently, the United States refused to join with 30 nations and the European Commission in a diplomatic protest against Japan’s Antarctic whaling program.

“Recent polls show that over 75 percent of registered voters oppose whaling, and over two thirds want our government to do something about it, yet to this point, little has been done to stop the increasing slaughter,” said Jeff Pantukhoff, president and founder of the Whaleman Foundation and executive director of the Save the Whales Again! campaign. “We need the United States to reflect the will of its people and lead the way in taking all necessary actions against Japan, Norway and Iceland until the killing stops.”

As part of a suit filed in May 2007 by several conservation groups, an injunction was issued Friday by a Hawaii federal district judge over the US Navy’s use of active sonar that he recognized as harmful to whales. Judge David A. Ezra stated that the evidence presented by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and fellow co-plaintiffs was both “compelling” and “convincing.”

Granting the motion for preliminary injunctive relief, Judge Ezra said, “[T]here is little disagreement that MFA [mid-frequency active] sonar can cause injury, death, and behavioral alteration to these animals.” Further, he ruled that the Navy’s reliance on a noise level of 173 decibels, below which it claims harm to animals from its sonar will not occur, was “arbitrary and capricious,” an acknowledgment that even sonar noise at much lower intensity levels can harm and kill marine mammals.

“Whales have stranded and died at predicted noise levels of around 150 decibels 100 times less intense than the threshold set by the Navy,” said AWI President Cathy Liss. “Such a level is without scientific justification.”

The injunction now prevents the Navy from proceeding with its use of active sonar in an upcoming March exercise in Hawaiian waters until specific precautions prescribed by the judge are taken. After the exercise, Judge Ezra will review the results of the exercise to consider modification of these imposed safety measures.

The Navy’s mid-frequency active sonar has been linked to the mass stranding of marine mammals in Spain (2006), the Canary Islands (2004, 2002, and 2000), the Bahamas (2000), Madeira (2000), Greece (1996) and numerous other places. In July 2004, the Navy’s sonar was implicated in the embayment of 100 to 200 melon-headed whales in Hanalei Bay, Hawaii and a whale calf died.

The non-governmental organizations allege that the Navy is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. They challenge the National Marine Fisheries Service, which regulates the Navy’s sonar use, with failure to comply with the Endangered Species Act. Copies of the judge’s order, which also include opinion on the merits of the suit, are available on request.

Additional co-plaintiffs in the suit, originally filed by Honolulu-based environmental law defender Earthjustice, are the Center for Biological Diversity, the Hawaiian Environmental Alliance (KAHEA), the Ocean Mammal Institute, and the Surfrider Foundation-Kauai Chapter.

The Washington, DC-based AWI, leader of the 1970s “Save the Whales” campaign, has worked for over 50 years to reduce the sum total of fear and pain inflicted on animals by humans.

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition joins the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) in releasing a shocking new video of the cruel slaughter of dolphins by Japanese whalers. Japan is pushing the International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Santiago, Chile, June 23-27, to overturn the 20-year old commercial whaling moratorium by allowing it to conduct commercial whaling off its shores.

“Dolphins and porpoises are whales, and size doesn’t matter,” says Louie Psihoyos, Executive Director of OPS, who has spent the last three years making a full-length documentary film on the dolphin slaughter and the high mercury content of the meat. “The IWC has overlooked the smallest leviathans since the moratorium was put in place, even though their mandate is to manage all whales. This short film will shed light on the truth the Japanese whalers don’t want the world to see.”

OPS is releasing a short film of recently acquired covert footage of Japanese whalers slaughtering dolphins, to media groups and delegates to the IWC. The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition helped in making of the film, which features the efforts of Ric O’Barry, Director of the coalition and an expert on dolphins.

“The dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, is the most horrendous act of cruelty, callousness, and waste that I have ever witnessed,” states Ric O’Barry, Director of Save Japan Dolphins Coalition and an expert on dolphins. “How can the IWC even consider opening up commercial coastal whaling in Japan, which would result in more slaughtered whales, more slaughtered dolphins, and more suffering of these intelligent mammals?”

While the IWC maintains a moratorium on commercial whaling around the world initiated in 1986, the Japan Fisheries Agency continues to allow the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins annually in Japan’s coastal waters and conducts “scientific whaling” in the North Pacific and Antarctica, targeting well over 1,000 whales annually. Meat from the “scientific” whaling is sold in markets.

“The IWC knows that Japan’s slaughter of whales for so-called scientific purposes is a ploy to circumvent the commercial whaling ban, yet instead of taking Japan to task, it may reward Japan for its renegade acts by lifting the ban,” said DJ Schubert of the Animal Welfare Institute, a Coalition member. “And it defies belief that the United States, which was instrumental in achieving the ban, is now the country leading the IWC toward capitulation,” he added.

“Recently, in defiance of both the IWC and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Japan imported whale meat from Iceland and Norway,” notes David Phillips, Director of Earth Island Institute, a member of the Coalition. “How can the IWC trust Japan, which kills dolphins in the most cruel manner imaginable, ignores the international whaling moratorium and slaughters whales for commercial purposes disguised as science, and now illegally trades whale meat?”

“We are hoping the film will help sway the vote of any IWC delegate that is thinking of voting with Japan to open up commercial whaling” Psihoyos adds. “Killing nearly a million small cetaceans is commercial whaling, and allowing the highly toxic meat to be given away to school children is criminal. Japanese whalers and their agency accomplices cannot be trusted.”