A re-supply and transport ship in Japan's whaling fleet called the "Oriental Bluebird" has been de-flagged and fined following a court ruling by the Panamanian judiciary. The Oriental Bluebird, which is used to re-fuel the ships in the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean as well as transport whale meat back to Japan for processing, was fined with the judge handing down the maximum penalty under law in a process that began in April 2008.
The Oriental Bluebird had been ruled in violation of several domestic and international shipping regulations by Panamanian authorities related to the vessel's permissible use, safety of human life and preservation of the marine environment. This investigation follows a concerted effort by Greenpeace activists in January 2008 to protest the Oriental Bluebird's presence in the Southern Ocean as well as a campaign by environmental groups in Panama.
Owners of the vessel, Hiyo Shipping Co. Ltd., were issued a fine of $10,000 US and had their Panamanian registration and flag removed.
"The Oriental Bluebird has now become an international pariah vessel, and its owners will be urgently looking for a new flag State which will condone its breaches of environmental treaties. It would make a mockery of international law if Japan continued to rely on the services of this vessel," said Sara Holden, Greenpeace International Whales Campaign coordinator. "We are delighted that Panama has found the vessel guilty. Japan must now do the same, not just by mothballing the Oriental Bluebird, but by retiring the entire whaling fleet. The international community has a responsibility to hold Japan to this. The Japanese government is spending vast amounts of taxpayers' money to defend the indefensible and militarise a hunt of endangered whales inside an internationally designated whale sanctuary, for a programme that is neither scientifically or economically credible, and has now been proven to be using illegal vessels."
Source:
Ekolist.czThe controversial Japanese "scientific" whaling program continues in the next few weeks when the whaling fleet, including the Oriental Bluebird, is scheduled to leave the port of Shimonoseki for the Southern Ocean.
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