Ireland today joined with a number of other countries in a demarche to the Government of Japan about its whaling activities.   The demarche expresses “serious concern” at the decision of the Government of Japan to resume whaling in the Southern  Ocean under what it calls its “New Scientific Research Whale Programme in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A)”.

The EU's Ambassador to Iceland, Matthias Brinkmann, today delivered a demarche to the Government of Iceland expressing strong opposition to Iceland's continuing and increased commercial harvest of whales, particularly fin whales, and to its on-going international trade in whale products. Ireland supported the Demarche, which was made on behalf of the EU, its 28 Member States and the governments of the United States, Australia, Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico and Monaco.