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Japanese whaling and SeaLord Protest Report 16th febBy Dean Jefferys Byron Whale Action Group

11 People from Byron Whale Action Group and newly formed Sea Shepherd group dumped frozen Sealord fish and calimari next to mock whale sushi out front of the Japanese consulate in Brisbane last Wednesday to protest against Japanese whaling and SeaLords involvement in the whaling industry. Howey Cooke composed a special song for the event and 2 loud drums gave it a good Byron flavour.

One the way to Brisbane in the hired bus I received a call from the ABC radio in Brisbane and was asked why we were targeting the Sealord company.  I explained that the Howard government has refused to get serious about helping the whales and instead of taking Japan to the International Court of Justice it prefers to not rock Japans boat even if it kills whales. So its now up to consumers to put economic pressure on the whale killers and everyone associated with them.  So we are recommending consumers pressure Japan directly to stop Killing whales by Boycotting all Japanese products and services including Japanese Airlines JAL.

The NZ Sealord company is 50% owned by Nissui, a Japanese whaling company and Sealord frozen sea foods are in most supermarkets. So, vola. If people stop buying Sealord products this will put maximum pressure on Sealord and their partner Nissui to stop whaling as the lost sales will cost them more than what  they make on selling whale meat.

Straight after my interview I heard a spokes person from Sealord being interviewed. I could feel his concern of what a boycott of Sealord products would do and he argued a boycott was going one step to far. Yet when you have one of these amazing whales come right up to you as a real act of friendship and you think that they are facing Japanese harpoons within a year, I know I have to do whatever i can to help them.

Boycotts against companies owned or part owned by Nissui are now happening all around the world and in Argentina and the USA these companies are under enormous economic pressure to stop whaling. Its a matter of time and peoples exercising their consumer power and whaling will stop. Of coarse action needs to happen on all levels and our Prime Minister should be lobbied to take legal action against Japan. Pressure should also be put on the local M.P.s and the state Premiers to pressure Howard to take decisive action to help the whales. Here in Byron we have an opportunity and in fact an obligation to the whales to lead Australia in Whale conservation. Byron Shire could take the humpback on as our local symbol, hang a banner across the street and lobby the various bodies to help ensure they are not harpooned by the Japanese whalers this December when they return back to the Antarctic. These humpbacks that Japan wants to slaughter were born in Australian waters, they live in close family groups and are highly emotional and intelligent beings. They are Australian citizens of the sea. Throughout Australia the whale watching industry makes $273 million from the whales without hurting one whale. Once one harpoon hits a humpback you can virtually kiss this industry good bye as no whale will come anywhere near a boat perhaps for another 40 years. At a time when whale human interaction and connection is at an all time high it would be a tragedy to go back to the fear of death relationship these whales parents had with humans 40 years ago. Sealord’s Chief Executive Doug Mackay has labelled conservationists’ campaign to boycott Sealord products as – “ commercial terrorism.”  Mackay confirms that dividend payments are shared 50-50 with their Japanese partner, Nissui and that Sealord does not have a problem with what Nissui does in its own patch.

If you sleep with the devil soon or a later you have to pay the price and the price for getting into bed with Whale killers, Nissui, is a boycott of all Sealord products, until Sealord sells its 50% Nissui share to a more reputable company preferably not involved in the slaughter of whales or they convince Nissui to stop killing whales. If Sealord is serious about their stated policy of “ Protection of the environment” then they need to reflect that in action and if they don’t then consumers will have to hold them accountable.”

After handing a message on our concerns and demands about Japanese whaling to a delegate from the Japanese consulate we held hands in a circle and sent love to the whales and the whalers and all those associated with the whaling industry. I know this sounds very "Byron Bay" yet I have felt directly from the whales that they dont wont us to create more hatred or separation in the process of helping them but express a sort of compassion or unconditional love you would expect from beings like the Dalhi Lama.  So is a boycott compassionate I ask myself? Maybe its persuasive compassion if their is such a term. We then marched to the nearby Japanese Airline JAL office to urge people to boycott Japanese Airline.  The doors seemed to mysteriously open and the police seemed to let me slip on through and up to the 14th floor where i proceeded to tell the manager of our campaign to boycott JAL and that he should tell the Japanese PM to close their countries whaling industry as its costing them a lot of business.

Channel 10 screened our protest and a NZ radio station rang me up. Apparently the protest caused quite a stir in NZ. We have also been talking with some supermarket chains to see if they will stop distributing Sealord products. There may be a local protest coming up at Woolworth's in Byron to help them make a decision. Next Friday at 4 p.m. at little Watigos beach those people interested in helping the whales are invited to gather for a chat and a swim with our cetacean friends.

If you want to express your concern about Sealords involvement with Nissui and whale killing you can call them free on 1800-7325673. or email them at inquiries@sealord.com For more info and action ideas to help the whales see http://www.worldpeacenow.org.au and  http://www.seashepherd.org and http://www.greenpeace.org/