(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Australia think the government should take further action against Japan’s whaling practices, according to a poll by Field Works Market Research for the Lowy Institute for International Policy. 58 per cent of respondents say this is necessary even at the risk of straining relations with an important trading partner.

Conversely, 33 per cent of respondents say the government’s current approach to whaling is correct.

In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) agreed to a moratorium on the commercial hunting of whales. However, Japan is allowed to conduct research on the cetaceans—which entails hunting them. Only this year, the missions on the Antarctic Ocean are expected to see the hunting of up to 1,000 whales.

The European Union (EU) has voiced opposition to the Japanese whale hunt. Australia has also become a fierce opponent of whale hunting by the Japanese. The government of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd sent a monitoring crew to the Southern Ocean to take pictures and record the hunting practices earlier this year.

On Sept. 10, the governments of New Zealand and Australia announced a plan to conduct research on whales without killing them. The two countries will call scientists from around the world to draw a five-year research plan in a conference scheduled for February 2009. Anti-whaling activists see this measure as a way to challenge Japan’s claim that it needs to kill at least 1,000 whales every year in order to learn more about them.

Australian environment minister Peter Garrett said that Australia and New Zealand "are seeking to increase the global commitment to non-lethal research to better manage the recovery of whales."

Polling Data

Thinking about the Australian government’s efforts to stop Japanese whaling, please say which of the following statements comes closest to your own view.

Source: Field Works Market Research / Lowy Institute for International Policy
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,001 Australian adults, conducted from Jul. 12 to Jul. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

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