WHALES: GOA CONSIDERING OPTIONS, NO PRECIPITATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000044

SIPDIS


NOFORN

STATE FOR OES; COMMERCE FOR NOAA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2018
TAGS: SENV EFIS AS JA
SUBJECT: WHALES: GOA CONSIDERING OPTIONS, NO PRECIPITATE
ACTION SEEN

Classified By: CHARGE DANIEL A. CLUNE, REASONS 1.4 B and D


1. (C/NF) Summary: Japanese whaling has been a major public
issue in Australia over the past three days, with
considerable media coverage of the January 15 detention of
two Sea Shepherd Conservation Organization activists on a
Japanese whaling vessel they had boarded. The media also
highlighted a January 15 Australian Federal Court ruling
prohibiting whaling in Australian waters, though also
reporting that the decision is unlikely to have an impact
because Japan does not recognize Australia's Antarctic
claims. Contacts tell us that the Rudd Government is trying
to walk a fine line between responding to public sentiment
about whaling (and living up to its own campaign promises to
take a tougher line on the issue) and not undermining
Australia's relations with Japan or its Antarctic interests.
Australians are debating international legal action, though
one contact noted that Canberra was surprised at the strength
of U.S. concern about the possible consequences of such a
step. Foreign Minister Smith is likely to raise the issue
with the Secretary, if only because of the domestic pressure
to show that the Rudd Government is fully engaged on the
issue. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The Australian press has been dominated by news
about the latest in Australia,s clash with Japan on Japanese
"research" whaling. On January 15, an Australian Federal
Court found Japanese whaling in the Australian Whale
Sanctuary in the Antarctic to violate the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Although this
may add to the pressure on the GOA to take further action,
Department of Foreign Affairs Director for Environment
Strategies David Dutton told Embassy that the GOA did not
plan to go beyond its current commitment to monitor Japanese
whaling.


3. (SBU) Dutton noted that the GOA would not attempt to
enforce the court ruling on the high seas, because of the
Antarctic Treaty. And since Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha (the
Japanese whaling company) has no assets in Australia, there
is no practical way to enforce the ruling. DFAT Japan
Section Director Warren King told us that the Japanese appear
to have expected the ruling after the Rudd Government
reversed former PM Howard's policy of asking the Court not to
hear the case.


4. (C) Noting that the Japanese have not raised whaling in
official channels in the past few weeks, King said that the
Japanese officials who deal with Australia understand the
strength of public sentiment on the issue but appear
surprised at the poor reception of their argument that the
hunt is for "scientific" purposes. Japanese officials do not
appear to understand the depth of feeling within Australia
against whaling and the utter rejection of the idea that
there is a scientific basis to the Japanese hunt. Commenting
that domestic Japanese support for whaling has been
declining, King said Australia is trying to highlight the
Qdeclining, King said Australia is trying to highlight the
cost to Japan while trying to avoid taking actions that would
strengthen domestic support for whaling in Japan on
nationalistic grounds. Referring to a January 15 meeting
between Australian Embassy officials and OES Assistant
Secretary McMurray, King said that the Australians have been

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"surprised" at the strength of the U.S. concerns.



5. (SBU) The January 15 detention of two Sea Shepherd
Conservation Organization activists (including an Australian)
on the whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 has caused some
concern in the GOA, which knew little more than what has
appeared in the press concerning their treatment or the
circumstances in which they boarded the whaler. The GOA and
GOJ were in steady contact in Tokyo, Dutton said, and noted
that the Sea Shepherd ship "seemed to be making itself
unavailable," since prolonging their detention would bring
further publicity to their cause. Disk jockeys at the


national youth-oriented music station Triple-J succeeded in
interviewing Paul Watson, the captain of the Sea Shepherd
ship "Steve Irwin", by telephone on both Tuesday and
Wednesday, probably confirming Dutton,s supposition that
they were ducking the GOA's contact efforts. (At the moment,
media reports that the Japanese say the Netherlands-flagged
Sea Shepherd ship "Steve Irwin" is avoiding its attempts to
hand over the two activists.) King said the Japanese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Fisheries Agency
had been very responsive when contacted by the Australians
about the two activists, agreeing to release them immediately
and emphasizing that they are being treated well (in contrast
to Sea Shepherd claims that the two were tied up on the
ship's deck for several hours),while stressing the danger of
their conduct. GOA officials fully understand that boarding
a ship at sea is a dangerous act, with King noting that
Greenpeace (which also has a ship shadowing the Japanese
whaling fleet) has been critical of the boarding. Though the
Sea Shepherd vessel did not respond to initial attempts by
the Japanese to establish contact to arrange return of the
two, King said that the two sides were now trying to work out
arrangements for their return. The Japanese were hurting
themselves by trying to insist on "preconditions" for the
return, specifically that the Sea Shepherd group agree not to
interfere with the rest of the hunt or film the return,
according to King, who said that the Australians are urging
their Japanese counterparts to abandon such conditions in
order to return the two as quickly as possible. Dutton said
Tokyo had been urging the GOA to "make them behave," but
Dutton noted the "Steve Irwin" is a Dutch-flagged vessel in
international waters, so Australia has no jurisdiction over
it.

Next?
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5. (C) Dutton said the next few weeks would be unpredictable.
The Australian customs enforcement vessel "Oceanic Viking"
arrived in the area today and has the Japanese whaling fleet
in view. Its mandate is to monitor whaling, but Dutton said
it looks like it will monitor protests as well, since both
Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd have vessels chasing the Japanese
whalers. King said that the decision to send a Customs
vessel rather than Labor's campaign rhetoric of sending "the
Navy" reflected a recognition once in Government that a
warship would be seen as very provocative by the Japanese.


6. (C) Former Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in an
unrelated meeting, told econoff yesterday that this "proves"
that the Howard Government had struck the right balance on
whaling. Turnbull said that the action to monitor the
Japanese whalers had created expectations among the
anti-whaling community that Australia would do more, and
perhaps encouraged this kind of action. (Sea Shepherd and
Greenpeace both planned and announced their harassment
mission before the November election and change of
Qmission before the November election and change of
government.)


7. (C) More broadly, there is pressure on the Rudd Government
to "do more," but neither Dutton, King nor aide to
Environment Minister Garrett Kate Pasterfield anticipated any
change in current Australian policy to monitor the whaling -
a policy that already goes beyond what the previous
government did. The GOA is strictly in a reactive mode at
the moment and is calling for restraint, but is also
investigating options such as taking action in the
International Court of Justice (ICJ). King told us that while
no decision has been made, the very serious study of possible
action either at the ICJ or possibly the Law of the Sea
Tribunal reflects the fact that there is a lot of support
within the Labor Party for stronger steps. In addition to
the commitment to name a special envoy on whaling, King said
that the issue would be raised by both Trade Minister Simon
Crean (who will be in Japan January 20-24) and Foreign
Minister Stephen Smith, scheduled to be in Tokyo January 31
after his Washington DC trip. Dutton added that the GOA is
considering naming a special envoy on whaling. Dutton also
expressed interest in knowing what the U.S. hoped to get out
of an intersessional meeting on the IWC - particularly since
whaling will be discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Monday
January 21.


8. (C/NF) Comment: The Rudd Government's handling of the
whaling issue highlights the difficulties in making the
transition from opposition to government. After having
criticized PM Howard for doing too little to stop Japanese
whaling, the Labor Party has tried to strike a balance
between doing more and not harming the relationship with
Japan or undermining Australia's Antarctic claims. Labor
went from calling for the Australian Navy to "block" the hunt
before last fall's election campaign to having the Navy
"monitor" the hunt (Labor's position during the campaign) to
sending an Australian Customs vessel to monitor the Japanese
whalers. Having raised public expectations that Australia
can do more to block whaling, the Rudd Government finds
itself under pressure to deliver but without causing any harm
to relations with Japan. Trying to square this circle
increases the chance that Australia will take international
legal action, either at the ICJ (which our contacts say would
be the most provocative, but might offer the best chance of a
victory) or at the Law of the Sea Tribunal. Our Australian
contacts acknowledge that such action would be unlikely to
stop the whale hunt entirely, but could well force
modifications that would make it more difficult for the
Japanese. Equally importantly, such action would probably
take a long time, removing some of the pressure on the
Government for the next few years. FM Smith will almost
certainly raise the issue when he sees Secretary Rice on
January 28, if only to be able to tell the public that he did
so. End Comment.

CLUNE