JEERS to the government of Japan for defying the rest of the world and resuming commercial whale slaughter this week for the first time in 30 years after it withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in December. The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1982 and as a result has saved several species from extinction. IWC does grant special whaling permits for scientific purposes, and Japan has been exploiting that loophole for decades as well.

“With several whale and dolphin species still threatened with extinction, it really is the hallmark of an immoral society to slaughter these remarkably beautiful and intelligent cetaceans without retribution,” said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals. “Japan should be met with a massive tourism boycott since that’s the language the government understands.”

Unlike the government of Japan, FoA advocates for the protection of whales as well as whale watching. The IWC recently launched an online handbook to equip anyone who wants to go whale watching with places to go and questions to ask. An estimated $2.1Bn is spent by 13 million people who go whale watching each year. The handbook can be found at wwhandbook.iwc.int/en/.