Diplomacy not Whaling wins in the end

The ruling made by the 16 judges in The Hague was that the whaling was unscientific and that Japan should cease its whaling operations.

Although many of the Times readers may have been unaware of the proceedings, the decision is significant, as more than 30 years of environmental campaigning may have been brought to a close.

I use the term "may" as there are a number of interesting points to the issue of whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Firstly to put things into perspective, before any environmentalist gets on their moral high horse about whaling, we should remember a number of facts:

o the Japanese whaling industry was actually set up by the allies at the end of WWII;

o Australia only ceased whaling in 1977;

o and it was western whaling fleets, including ours, which decimated whale populations around the world in the first place.

In the early 1990s as a professional environmentalist, I worked on a number of campaigns sending ships into the Southern Ocean to protest against the whaling.

While our actions back then, and those of similar environmental groups over recent years, were then and still are now, primarily publicity stunts to raise the profile and memberships of the environmental groups undertaking the protest actions.

At the time, I was part of a small but vocal group within my organisation pointing out that our direct actions were having little impact on bringing an end to the whaling.

I remember discussions at the time that our protest actions may actually be helping sustain the whaling by creating a situation where the Japanese simply did not want to lose face and back down on the issue.

The Japanese people are a proud nation of people, and quite rightly they were not going to be told what to do by a bunch of 'long-haired hippies'.

In 2014, more than 20 years since I was a part of such protests, environmental groups were still sending vessels into the Southern Ocean to confront the Japanese.

Little has appeared to have changed. Fast forward to the decision this week, it is significant.

Recent reports have stated that the Japanese have been looking for an honourable way to get out of the unprofitable whaling business for a number of years.

I would like to congratulate those who made the correct decision to take this path to solve the issue, it was the right choice.

I would also like to congratulate Japan for stating that it is a law abiding nation and that it will comply with the ruling.

Far from all of the 'fuss and bluster', and self-congratulations that the environmentalists are giving themselves right now, it is quite obvious that their tactics achieved little in 20 years.

It was the use of the 'velvet glove' of a court ruling, and a way for Japan to step away from the issue that may have finally brought an end to the whaling.

Quite a day indeed.

Christopher Grossett