<s>[INST] The next text is a question of a member of the European parliament:"According to information provided by Greenpeace, two Japanese vessels have been located in Antarctic waters at the site of a whale sanctuary, being there with the intention of hunting some one thousand of the whales inhabiting the area. The vessels were intercepted on the morning of 12January 2008, after 10days' intensive search, in the vast area of the Antarctic whale sanctuary by the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, which, in a declaration broadcast by radio in English and Japanese, urged them to cease operations and return to port. The Japanese vessels reacted by fleeing, and Esperanza preventively chased them with a view to preventing possible further attempts at hunting on the way.  Using the pretext of scientific whaling, the Japanese whale fleet had assigned itself a quota of 935 minke whales and 50blue whales (the latter being an endangered species), and had earlier intended to catch 50humpback whales, abandoning that intention in December 2007 in the face of international pressure. Nonetheless, its rationale is highly dubious, since in order to carry out scientific research on whales it is not necessary to kill them, even less so in the numbers proposed by the Japanese fleet.  The Japanese government had confirmed, at the start of the expedition which set out in November 2007, that the sole raison d'être of its scientific programme was the resumption of commercial whaling. It should be recalled that an independent poll carried out by the Nippon Research Centre in June 2006 found that a majority of Japanese society is against the practice.  In view of the above, and given the serious implications of whaling for the biodiversity of the planet and the ecosystems in which whales live, is the Commission aware of these activities on the part of Japan? Has the Commission adopted or will it adopt any measures on the matter? What mechanisms are available to it or could be created to bring international pressure to bear against these practices? Does the Commission intend to raise the profile of this issue in the Union's relations with the Japanese Government?"
Analyze carefully the text and assign it to the most relevant policy area among those listed below. Do not explain your answer and return only a number.
Policy area numbers: 1 = Macroeconomics
2 = Civil Rights, Minority Issues and Civil Liberties
3 = Health
4 = Agriculture and Fisheries
5 = Labour, employment and pensions
6 = Education
7 = Environment
8 = Energy
9 = Immigration
10 = Transportation
12 = Law and Crime
13 = Social welfare
14 = Regional and Urban issues and Planning
15 = Banking, finance and domestic commerce issues
16 = Defence
17 = Space, science, technology, and communications issues
18 = Foreign trade
19 = International affairs and foreign aid
20 = Governance and government
21 = Public Lands, Water Management and Territorial Issues
23 = Culture and media
[/INST]. Answer = [7]. </s>
According to information provided by Greenpeace, two Japanese vessels have been located in Antarctic waters at the site of a whale sanctuary, being there with the intention of hunting some one thousand of the whales inhabiting the area. The vessels were intercepted on the morning of 12January 2008, after 10days' intensive search, in the vast area of the Antarctic whale sanctuary by the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, which, in a declaration broadcast by radio in English and Japanese, urged them to cease operations and return to port. The Japanese vessels reacted by fleeing, and Esperanza preventively chased them with a view to preventing possible further attempts at hunting on the way.  Using the pretext of scientific whaling, the Japanese whale fleet had assigned itself a quota of 935 minke whales and 50blue whales (the latter being an endangered species), and had earlier intended to catch 50humpback whales, abandoning that intention in December 2007 in the face of international pressure. Nonetheless, its rationale is highly dubious, since in order to carry out scientific research on whales it is not necessary to kill them, even less so in the numbers proposed by the Japanese fleet.  The Japanese government had confirmed, at the start of the expedition which set out in November 2007, that the sole raison d'être of its scientific programme was the resumption of commercial whaling. It should be recalled that an independent poll carried out by the Nippon Research Centre in June 2006 found that a majority of Japanese society is against the practice.  In view of the above, and given the serious implications of whaling for the biodiversity of the planet and the ecosystems in which whales live, is the Commission aware of these activities on the part of Japan? Has the Commission adopted or will it adopt any measures on the matter? What mechanisms are available to it or could be created to bring international pressure to bear against these practices? Does the Commission intend to raise the profile of this issue in the Union's relations with the Japanese Government?