The history of Australian legal opposition to Japanese Antarctic whaling

Whaling has been a consistent theme in Australia’s relations with Japan since the 1930s, Australia having endeavoured to regulate, restrict, or bring to a complete halt Japan’s Antarctic whaling virtually since it began. Australia’s motivations have been mixed, involving at various points, some comb...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian Journal of International Affairs
Main Authors: Scott, SV, Oriana, LM
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Taylor & Francis (Routledge) 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_83079
https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/bf3aec1e-c808-4a00-be87-9461f410821d/download
https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2019.1639135
Description
Summary:Whaling has been a consistent theme in Australia’s relations with Japan since the 1930s, Australia having endeavoured to regulate, restrict, or bring to a complete halt Japan’s Antarctic whaling virtually since it began. Australia’s motivations have been mixed, involving at various points, some combination of protection of Australia’s coastal whaling industry, concern for Australia’s security, for safeguarding Australia’s Antarctic territorial claim, and more recently, concern for Australia’s whale-watching industry and/or for the whales. Since environmental consciousness became a primary factor in the 1970s, Australian policy has been aligned with that of anti-whaling non-governmental organizations (NGOs), albeit that certain actions of NGOs have caused difficulties for the Australian Government. Law–inclusive of legal argument in the course of diplomacy, domestic laws, and international litigation–has been a mechanism of influence used by the Australian Government and NGOs. This paper traces Australia’s legal opposition from its beginnings until Japan’s announcement in December 2018 that it would end Antarctic whaling.