The simple facts on Australia's failure to stop the whale slaughter by the Japanese

Three activists, by boarding the Shonan Maru 2, have highlighted to the international news media the illegal whale-slaughters by the Japanese who argue that they are doing it in the name of scientific research. Campaigners against whale slaughter argue this is not true and a ploy to circumvent a 1978 international ruling prohibiting whale poaching for commercial use, effected as a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

During the 2007 federal election campaign the Australian Labor Party promised to lift efforts to stop the Japanese whale slaughter in the southern ocean.

Japan's pelagic whaling fleet consists of a number of ships for hunting and processing whale catch. During the 2009-10 season, the Japanese fleet included a factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, four harpoon ships and two security patrol vessels. The Japanese quota for that season included 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales.