OUTRAGE OVER WHALING ... #2 <cont>

Sounds like the US is pussying out a bit. US proposal asked for a smaller catch but phasing out over 10 years

Australia 'pushed' to accept whaling compromise
Posted Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:27am AEST
Updated Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:07am AEST/ABC NEWS online


The body of a minke whale and its calf are dragged onto a whaling ship

An anti-whaling group says Australia is being pressured by the United States to drop its demand for Japan to end so-called scientific whaling.

The 61st meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is underway in Portugal.

Australia has been pushing the IWC to close a loophole that has allowed Japan to set its own quotas for scientific whaling.

The director of the conservation group Whales Alive, Mick McIntyre, says Australia has been asked to accept a reduction in scientific whaling instead.

"The US believes that a compromise is necessary to be able to go ahead with the reform of the IWC," he said.

"It's unacceptable to the Australian Government and to the Australian people to accept a compromise, because really what is needed for is the scientific whaling to be stopped and the Commission dragged into the 21st century."

Mr McIntyre says the United States fears attempts to reform the IWC will fail if Australia continues to push the organisation to end scientific whaling. ...<cont>

...Ill go look for anything on whar defines the territorial claims of the several nations. (I think Denmark is in there too)

Each coastal State may claim an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200 nm from its baselines (or out to a maritime boundary with another coastal State). Within its EEZ, a coastal State has: (a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, whether living or nonliving, of the seabed and subsoil and the superjacent waters and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds; (b) jurisdiction as provided for in international law with regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations, and structures, marine scientific research, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment, and (c) other rights and duties provided for under international law.

....At the end of the day, international law in these areas is simply what you are able to enforce and what others accept, either formally or tacitly.

Imperial collapse may come much more suddenly than many historians imagine. A combination of fiscal deficits and military overstretch suggests that the United States may be the next empire on the precipice.

Interesting possible connections, High Seas.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were all sorts of vested interests at work, from a number of the countries involved.

Freedom of the Seas is a longstanding position of the United States, and I doubt we'll change our stance.

I'm not aware that we are involved in the Falklands dispute at all.

Downing Street has rejected an offer from the US to help the UK and Argentina resolve their latest dispute over the Falkland Islands. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the offer after renewed tensions were triggered by a UK decision to drill for oil near the islands. A spokesman for Gordon Brown said he welcomed her comments but did not think her direct involvement was necessary.

Freedom of the Seas is a longstanding position of the United States, and I doubt we'll change our stance.

Canada claims the Northwest Passage as its own. The United States disagrees, and a directive president George W. Bush signed before leaving office gave U.S. departments the go-ahead for the country to start asserting itself up North. Aside from the region's energy potential, the Arctic is undoubtedly far down on Mr. Obama's list of priorities. Likewise, Mr. Harper ....At the same time, new threats, like a re-emerged Russia, provide real geo-political threats to bring the two countries closer together on defending their mutual interests in the North.

the Pentagon reiterated its support for the treaty in its defense strategy road map, stating that signing on would "support cooperative engagement in the Arctic." It noted that such involvement could "promote a balanced approach to improving human and environmental security in the region." Mapping more of the Arctic basin has strategic benefits as well, its proponents say. "From the Navy's perspective, bottom surveys support safety of navigation for submarines and for surface ships in areas where the water becomes shallow," said Capt. Tim Galludet..

The recent designations add to the areas of the South Pacific that have been off limits to whale hunters since Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Tonga banned whaling in their territorial waters in the 1970s.

...Sustaining our overseas presence, responding to complex emergencies,
prosecuting the global war on terrorism, and conducting operations
far from our shores are only possible if military forces and military
and civilian logistic supply ships and aircraft are able to make
unencumbered use of the sea and air lines of communication. This
is an enduring principle that has been in place since the founding
of our country.