OUTRAGE OVER WHALING ... #2 <cont>

The Steve Irwin... OMFG ROTFLMAO!

The Animal Harasser is now their hero?

Yes, wonderful news, I agree!

Smith warns against whaling clashes now Viking gone
February 22, 2008/SMH

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has reminded anti-whaling activists that an Australian customs ship is no longer in Antarctic waters to resolve any incidents with Japanese whalers.

Mr Smith called on both protest ships and whaling vessels to exercise restraint now the Oceanic Viking is no longer monitoring the Japanese whale hunt.

The Viking last month helped end a stand-off by transferring two Sea Shepherd activists held on a Japanese vessel they boarded back to the Steve Irwin protest ship.

The Steve Irwin is sailing back to the whaling zone after undergoing repairs and refuelling in Melbourne, with captain Paul Watson threatening to cause another international incident.

"The Oceanic Viking has now ceased its whaling monitoring operation and has been redeployed to other duties elsewhere," Mr Smith said in a statement.

"Neither protest nor whaling vessels can in any way assume that the Australian Government will be in a position to respond immediately in the event of any serious incident," he said.

Mr Smith said the Government strongly opposed the whaling but did not condone violence or unsafe actions which put lives at risk.

"Weather and sea conditions in the Southern Ocean, and the very long distances involved, mean that the area is an inherently dangerous one in which to operate."

Captain Watson this week said his crew were prepared to make a citizens arrest of members of the Japanese fleet to uphold international conservation law.

"We need to create another international incident," he said in statement on Monday.

"Lack of enforcement by Australia and other nations is forcing Sea Shepherd to implement risky measures to stop the deadly harpoons.

"I cannot stomach this slaughter of these gentle giants any longer - if it means pushing the envelope, we are ready and willing to take the risks."

AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/smith-warns-against-whaling-clashes-now-viking-gone/2008/02/22/1203467378271.html

Little taste for whale, survey shows
Andrew Darby
February 21, 2008/SMH

Fewer than a third of Japanese people back commercial whaling and only a small number want to eat whale meat, a new survey shows.

Though many Japanese regard whaling as a traditional part of their culture, they do not know that it takes place in a whale sanctuary in the Antarctic, supported by government subsidies. But they do recognise Australia as Japan's strongest opponent.

The survey by Nippon Research Centre for Greenpeace International found 31 per cent of 1051 people on an internet register backed a resumption of commercial whaling, about 4 per cent fewer than two years before. Another 25 per cent opposed it, and 44 per cent had no opinion at all.

About one in 20 people ate whale meat "sometimes", while the rest had eaten it rarely or never, and only 11 per cent thought demand for it would increase.

A clear majority regarded whaling as a traditional part of the Japanese culture, particularly off the North Pacific country's own coast.

Yet 85 per cent were unaware that the current hunt of 900 whales, including endangered fins, took place in the International Whaling Commission's Southern Ocean Sanctuary.

The poll was taken just after the Rudd Government stepped in to resolve an international stand-off over the boarding of a Japanese catcher boat by Sea Shepherd activists last month.

Australia was nominated as the strongest critic of Japanese research whaling by 51 per cent, clearly ahead of the United States on 32 per cent.

"Most Japanese people have little knowledge of what is being done in their name and with their money, while the majority do not support the ongoing hunt," said Greenpeace Japan whales campaigner Junichi Sato.

The Greenpeace survey contrasts with a recent telephone poll for Asahi Shimbun that found strong support for both continued "research whaling", and the right to eat whale meat.

It comes as the Australian Government's plan for a potential international legal action against Japan finishes its first phase with collection of evidence by the Customs ship Oceanic Viking. .....

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/little-taste-for-whale-survey-shows/2008/02/21/1203467233620.html

Japanese whalers kept on the hop
February 23, 2008 - 9:02PM/SMH

Anti-whaling protest ship the Steve Irwin has the Japanese whaling fleet on the run again in the Southern Ocean.

The Sea Shepherd's ship located the Japanese fleet about 6am (AEDT) today after returning to the Southern Ocean from Melbourne, where it made repairs and stocked up on fuel and supplies.

The Steve Irwin's presence in the icy southern waters has effectively stopped whaling today, its captain Paul Watson said

"The great Southern Ocean whaling ship chase is on again," he said.

"I don't think any whales are going to be dying today. Our goal is to keep the harpoons quiet for the next three weeks."

The Steve Irwin found the Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68, which tried to lead it away from the whaling fleet.

Captain Watson said they continued on course finding other fleet vessels including the Nisshin Maru.

The first Japanese vessel, which Captain Watson believes carries armed Japanese coast guard officers, then turned and began chasing the Steve Irwin.

"It is believed that the Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68 carries armed Japanese coast guard officers," a Sea Shepherd spokesman said.

"The Steve Irwin is now pursuing the Nisshin Maru and two harpoon vessels with the Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68 in pursuit of the Steve Irwin." ...<cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/japanese-whalers-kept-on-the-hop/2008/02/23/1203467455859.html

Doing a bit of catching up here:

Push for whale protection to be debated at IWC
March 6, 2008 - 1:50PM/SMH

Australia's push for new protections and research rules for the world's whales will be debated at a three-day meeting starting today in London.

Australia has sent five delegates to the International Whaling Commission's forum, organised in the hope it can modernise its operations which have been stymied by bitter divisions between member nations.

The Australian delegation has prepared a lengthy submission, with the backing of Environment Minister Peter Garrett, calling on the IWC to start scrutinising scientific whale research - a move that would stop Japan acting alone in killing the mammals in the name of research.

Australia also wants the IWC to protect whales from a host of threats including climate change, pollution, collisions with ships and fisheries activities.

Meanwhile, Japan has flagged its desire for the "inter-sessional" meeting to debate the recent controversial attacks by anti-whaling activists on its whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.

Japan reportedly intends to call for international co-operation to prevent independent groups, such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, from obstructing its fleet on the high seas.

More than 100 official delegates from 46 different countries, including Japan, Britain, the United States, Norway and New Zealand will take part in the informal debate.

The Australian Government is unsure how its proposals will go down at the meeting, particularly with pro-whaling nations such as Japan and Norway, but hopes delegates can find areas of "common interest and intent".

Japan argues whaling is part of its culture and kills up to 1000 whales a year, exploiting a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium allowing "lethal research" on the mammals, with some meat ending up being sold in supermarkets.

In its submission, Australia calls for the IWC to take control of scientific whale research so there is a co-ordinated international approach to addressing "knowledge gaps" about the mammals.

Australia also wants an end to the issue of special permits that allow whales to be killed for "research".

"This would be a practical first step towards ending the loophole under which special permit whaling can proceed without agreement in the commission, without rigorous scientific review and without due regard for the conservation and management measures adopted by the commission," the submission says.

"These measures would strengthen the commission by increasing collaboration on science and would remove the most serious source of tension that presently impedes the commission's work."

The London meeting was called by IWC chairman William Hogarth in a bid to break the impasse between the pro- and anti-whaling blocs.

The whaling body has been prevented from making any real progress in the past decade because of the bitter divisions between member countries.

However, no binding decisions will be adopted by the IWC at the meeting.

Instead ideas raised at the meeting are expected to be presented for consideration at the IWC's 60th annual meeting in Santiago, Chile, this June.

AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/push-for-whale-protection-to-be-debated-at-iwc/2008/03/06/1204402622448.html

Just in. Lengthy report on the IWC forum meeting:

Australia finds support for bid to stop whaling

March 9, 2008 - 8:48PM/SMH

Australia has drummed up international support, at a meeting in London, for its bid to stop Japanese whaling with new rules protecting the mammals.

A five-strong Australian delegation to the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) three-day forum called for special permits to come under IWC scrutiny to prevent Japan killing whales in the name of science.

They also urged the forum to introduce fresh conservation plans to combat issues such as climate change, and internationally coordinated research programs aimed at closing "knowledge gaps" about the mammals.

But it emerged today discussions also included plans to lift the worldwide ban on whaling, with one British newspaper saying the proposal was "welcomed by both pro- and anti-whaling governments".

The plans would allow Japan to carry out a limited hunt in waters close to its shores, The Independent on Sunday reported.

In return, the world's main whaling nation would have to stop exploiting a loophole in international law under which each year it kills hundreds of whales around Antarctica in the guise of "scientific research".

The plans were reportedly presented by the governments of Argentina and the Netherlands to the closed meeting where participants were forbidden to disclose anything about the discussions.

The IWC, meanwhile, has criticised US-based anti-whaling group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society over its actions to stop Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.

The Australian Federal Police have been called in to investigate after clashes between Japanese whalers and Sea Shepherd's vessel, the Steve Irwin, escalated.

The Steve Irwin's captain, Paul Watson, has claimed he was hit in the chest by a bullet while wearing a bullet-proof vest. .... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/support-to-stop-whaling/2008/03/09/1204998280808.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

The last reported incident between Sea Shepherd & the Japanese whalers in the Suthern Ocean.:

Sea Shepherd captain 'shot by Japanese whalers'
Posted Fri Mar 7, 2008 4:39pm AEDT
Updated Fri Mar 7, 2008 8:23pm AEDT


Paul Watson: Bullet found in vest. (File photo) (AAP Image: Raoul Wegat)

The Captain of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship, the Steve Irwin, claims he has been shot by Japanese whalers during a confrontation in the Southern Ocean.

Paul Watson says members of his crew threw stink bombs aboard the whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, and the Japanese responded by returning flash grenades.

He says one of his crew was hit by a grenade and received minor injuries.

Mr Watson says he then felt a thud in his chest and found a bullet lodged in his bullet-proof vest.

"... but it also came through and I have this badge and it hit the badge and bent that too so it just left a bruise really on my chest - so it could have - if I wasn't wearing the vest it could have been pretty serious," Mr Watson said.

He says even before shots were fired, the Japanese whalers were acting recklessly in their confrontation.

"We were doing what we usually do, which is putting stink bombs on deck," he said.

"We go out of our way to make sure we don't throw them near anybody, but they were throwing the flash grenades directly at us." ...<cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/07/2183690.htm

Olga have you seen this?
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/secret-plan-to-let-japan-resume-whaling-793486.html

I have no idea what it means - but i'm always suspicious when meetings are held secretly - it normally means the public aren't going to like it.

Thanks, Endy. There's more detail in that article than the earlier one I posted. So it's looking as though we're going to have whaling whether it's 'legal" or "scientific" (when it's illegal). Sigh. Whaling either way.
I doubt environmentalists will quietly sit by & let this happen.

I'm sure you're right. I'm also sure that as our world leaders are slowly replaced with intelligent human beings, things over all will gradually improve for all life on earth.

Let's hope it's in time to save the planet and such important creatures as the whale

Amen.

Compromise the key to whaling dispute: expert
By North Asia correspondent Shane McLeod

Posted Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:47am AEDT
Updated Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:19pm AEDT


Under the scientific provisions of the IWC, Japan is killing about half as many whales each year as it did before a moratorium was imposed on commercial whaling in 1986. (AFP: Greenpeace, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert)

While Australia has taken a hardline stance on Japanese whaling, would it compromise to allow Japan to hunt the mammals in Japanese waters?

Environment Minister Peter Garrett says no, but some involved in the debate say compromise is the key to the future conservation of the world's whales.

More than 50 countries have attended the IWC's three-day meeting in London, which was called to break the stalemate over whaling and to discuss the body's future.

The meeting in Heathrow was called because regular annual meetings of the International Whaling Commission have been going nowhere.

What marked the weekend gathering was discussion, something that most agree has been lacking from recent polarised IWC meetings.

Mr Garrett says Australia received a good hearing on its proposals for an overhaul of the IWC's scientific provisions, the so-called "loophole" by which Japan conducts its whaling programs.

"I think that the fact that officials were able to discuss these issues and that there was support from countries for what Australia had brought forward, and the fact that it will be on the agenda when countries meet and the IWC ministerial meeting in Chile later this year, are positive steps," he said.

But as a prominent anti-whaling nation, Australia has a task ahead of it convincing pro-whaling countries like Japan to agree.

Remi Parmentier is an adviser to the US based Pew Environmental Trust, which in recent years has been working to get the various sides in the whaling debate to talk to each other.

He attended the weekend's meeting and says the million-dollar question is what each side is prepared to do to solve the stalemate.

"If there is no formula that everybody can live with - I'm not saying a formula that everybody will necessarily like, but can live with - and especially the Japanese, we will be back to square one," he said.

Under the scientific provisions of the IWC, Japan is killing about half as many whales each year as it did before a moratorium was imposed on commercial whaling in 1986.

Mr Parmentier says that at the meeting, Japan signalled it might be prepared to give up its most controversial whaling programs, but in exchange for concessions - most likely permission to resume whaling in its own territorial waters.

Mr Garrett says that is not something he can agree with, but Japan has already suggested it will walk away from the IWC if it is not allowed to resume whaling.

The question for anti-whaling nations like Australia is how far they would be prepared to go to keep Japan inside the organisation.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/10/2184988.htm

Australia rejects whaling trade-off in London
Andrew Darby, Hobart
March 10, 2008/SMH

The gulf between Australia and Japan over whaling has deepened as some other conservation nations shift towards a compromise with the Asian power.

A possible trade-off of commercial whaling off Japan's coast for the end of its discredited "scientific" whaling has resurfaced at talks in London. Such a deal was rejected by strong anti-whaling countries, including Australia, which also stiffened its censure of Japan over the conduct of its Antarctic whaling.

The 78-nation International Whaling Commission agreed at the weekend to try to moderate the feisty meetings of an organisation deeply split between pro and anti-whaling sides. But attempts were also made at the IWC special meeting to find a policy compromise. Japanese coastal whaling was rejected at the last full IWC meeting because it would breach the global moratorium on commercial whaling. But it reappeared as a possible solution at Heathrow if tied to an end to scientific whaling, The Independent newspaper said.

British negotiators are among those seeking a change. Britain's top IWC official, Richard Cowan, recently told a symposium in Tokyo that while some anti-whaling countries saw no price at which they would endorse the resumption of commercial whaling, others might be less immovable. "If you see that you cannot win, then playing for a draw is the honourable and courageous thing to do," he said.

Successive Australian governments have opposed any commercial whaling or lethal scientific research. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith reaffirmed at the weekend his Government's objective to persuade the Japanese to cease whaling in the Southern Ocean.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said any hope for compromise over coastal whaling was ill-founded. "I don't see any sign at all from Japan that it is willing to give up Antarctic whaling," said IFAW Asia Pacific campaigns manager Darren Kindleysides.

The IWC meeting agreed to call on the Sea Shepherd group to refrain from dangerous actions at sea, and on ships and crews to exercise restraint.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/australia-rejects-whaling-tradeoff-in-london/2008/03/09/1204998322368.html

This is the top British IWC official's considered view?

Who says the conservationists cannot win?

Who says the "compromise" proposal achieves anything much at all?

What's "honourable and courageous" about the proposal?

Some of us might say this is a sell out!

And why? What's really going on behind the scenes?


" ...British negotiators are among those seeking a change. Britain's top IWC official, Richard Cowan, recently told a symposium in Tokyo that while some anti-whaling countries saw no price at which they would endorse the resumption of commercial whaling, others might be less immovable. "If you see that you cannot win, then playing for a draw is the honourable and courageous thing to do," he said..."

Seems to me that just at the time the the Japanese whaling interests are feeling the international heat (& why shouldn't they? "Scientific whaling" is a complete farce & everyone has known it for years.) they are being offered a life-line by some in the very organization whose responsiblity it is to oversee the welfare of whales. (And making Sea Shepherd out to be the sole villains of the piece!)

Or to put it another way, this is the only organization with any influence on the Japanese whalers and it is a WHALING commission!
Surely it is high time that the welfare of whales (& other threatened sea creatures) was in the hands of an organization with a far broader brief than the IWC?

Now I know what the Japanese officials meant when, a few months ago, they spoke about "normalization" of the situation at the next IWC meeting.

Come on now give the Japanese credit. They are engaged in scientific research because they want to preserve whales...kinda like a jam maker preserves raspberries.

Hi Olga - did you see this? Maybe we should put dolphins in charge! :wink:
i bet if they could speak our language they'd have a few wise things to say
to us, eh?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7291501.stm

Thanks, Endy!

Go Moko, you clever thing!

".....Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea.

The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said.

But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.

The bottlenose dolphin, called Moko by local residents, is well known for playing with swimmers off Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island....."


Moko is well known locally for playing with swimmers in the bay

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7291501.stm