Paper Petition

This petition of Queensland citizens draws to your attention that the Japanese Government's plan to start hunting fin and humpback whales and to double the number of minke whales killed in its annual Antarctic hunt to over 800. A substantial number of these whales will be killed within the Australian Whale Sanctuary (AWS) and will include humpbacks that migrate up the east and west-coast of Australia every winter. Humpback whales have only just begun to recover from hunting, after they were reduced to only 100 individuals in 1962. If Japan's plan to kill these magnificent creatures goes ahead, some of the humpback whales we will delight in watching on their migration up our coast this winter will not be returning in coming years.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to act urgently to assist the international campaign against whaling by supporting efforts to bring Japan to account before the International Court of Justice for its “scientific” whaling.