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  ENN 29 Mar 06
Australia Says New Research Proves Scientific Whaling is 'A Sham'
By Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia: A new study shows there is no justification for scientific whaling programs under which thousands of the mammals have been killed in the name of research, Australia's environment minister said Tuesday.

Ian Campbell said he would take the results of a 10-year research project in the oceans around Australia's Antarctic Territory to the next International Whaling Commission meeting in June.

"It demonstrates once and for all, if it needed to be demonstrated, that the so-called scientific programs of the countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland, are a sham," Campbell told reporters.

In the Australian study, scientists used non-lethal means to relate whale abundance and distribution to important ecological factors such as distribution of their primary food source Antarctic krill, oceanographic circulation patterns, water depth, bottom features and the presence of sea ice, he said.

"Japan claims that the major objectives for its scientific whaling programs are to monitor the Antarctic marine ecosystem and to model possible competition for food among whale species," Campbell said.

"The information required to meet these objectives is precisely the type of data that Australia has now collected" without killing any whales, he added.

Japan will this month complete its Antarctic summer whale kill and is expected to take more than 900 minke whales and 10 fin whales. Japan has rejected repeated calls to end whaling by claiming the kill is necessary to conduct scientific studies on the mammals.

Australia is a vocal opponent of whaling.
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