Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

human consumption, dolphin trainers selected some of the young and unblemished dolphins for use in captive dolphin swim programs and dolphin shows.

During the hunting season that began October 1st 2003 and ended March 30th 2004 the fishermen of Taiji killed 1,165 dolphins:

444 Striped dolphins
197 bottlenose dolphins
102 Pantropical spotted dolphins
293 Risso's dolphins
117pilot whales
12 false killer whales

In that same period they captured 78 dolphins for sale to dolphinaria:

67 bottlenose dolphins
6 Risso's dolphins
5 pseudo orcas

....yeah, just flamin lovely is'nt it! The pictures were just too graphic to post.

<another deep sigh>

Thank you for not posting the photographs, KC. The text was graphic enough. <sigh>

sorry about the text Msolga,
but I felt it needed to be told, sadly to say.

Of course. Absolutely. (Just hate the photographs, that's all. )

Japanese whalers leave port for Antarctic
Shimonoseki, Japan
November 8, 2005 - 3:07PM/the AGE

A fleet of whaling ships has left Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, to conduct a scientific research program on whales in the Antarctic.

The program marked the start of the 19th expedition since 1987 for the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research headed by Hiroshi Hatanaka, a nonprofit organisation supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

During the expedition, the institute planned to catch 10 fin whales for the first time. It also planned to double the amount of minke whales caught to about 850.

The institute's plan was contrary to the call made today by Australia's Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell for Japan to abandon its proposed Southern Ocean scientific whaling program. Environmental groups had also urged stronger action against Japan, which hunted hundreds of whales each year for so-called scientific purposes.

In June, the International Whaling Commission adopted a nonbinding resolution urging Japan to scrap its research program at its annual meeting in Ulsan, South Korea.

Japan, however, was carrying out the planned program even though the resolution called for revising it to ensure no whales were killed. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/japanese-whalers-leave-port-for-antarctic/2005/11/08/1131407620250.html?oneclick=true

...and they need a fleet????

lies and more Bull S#@% under the disguise of 'Scientific Research'!!!

Big sigh & loud grrrrrrrrrr.
Some things never change!

It's on again. More Japanese whaling for "scientific purposes"! Lying bastards! Inexcusable!:

Pressure mounts on Japan's whaling fleet
Andrew Darby, Hobart, Australia
December 24, 2005[/size]


Cold comfort: Greenpeace inflatable vessels and their crews are soaked by hoses from Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean as they try to disrupt the whale hunt.

THE Japanese whaling fleet threw off attempts to stop it operating yesterday, as pressure rose against the Antarctic hunt.

Greenpeace activists in high-speed inflatables spent hours trying to put themselves between chaser boats and minke whales south of Tasmania and claimed some whales got away.

"We've certainly succeeded in slowing down the hunt, though unfortunately eventually they did kill a whale," expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said.

A second front is about to open in the campaign when one of the whaling fleet, the Kaiko Maru, a scouting vessel, arrives in Hobart to evacuate a crew member with appendicitis. Activists are expected to try to prevent it from returning to Antarctica.

"Greenpeace and a number of other organisations want to make sure the ship does not return to the whaling grounds, and that it is not resupplied or refuelled in Hobart," said the organisation's Australian chief executive, Steve Shallhorn.

Direct action against the whalers is also set to rise, with the hardline group Sea Shepherd likely to arrive off Commonwealth Bay today, saying that unlike Greenpeace it intends to stop the fleet from whaling. .. <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/home-and-hosed/2005/12/22/1135032135980.html

Abandoning the whales
December 24, 2005

The Howard Government has an obligation - and the means - to try to stop the Japanese slaughter in Antarctica, writes Sue Arnold.


'There has never been a more serious moment for the survival of whales.'

... Australians are demanding action from the Federal Government. International environment groups have a genuine expectation that Australia will lead the world in taking action against Japan. Given Australia's long-standing policy of opposition to whaling, it is hard to explain to foreigners that any decisive action by the Howard Government is extremely unlikely. Environment Minister Ian Campbell says Australia will not make legal challenges against Japan. Instead, the Government will rely on diplomatic means that so far have resulted only in increased quotas by Japan. ....

<complete article>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/abandoning-the-whales/2005/12/22/1135032132688.html

Last Update: Friday, December 23, 2005. 6:12am (AEDT)

Whaling protest counter-productive: Japan

Japan says moves to stop a whaling vessel refuelling in Hobart at the weekend will be counter-productive, as environmental groups plan a protest against the ship.

Japanese vessel Keiko Maru is on its way to Hobart with a sick crew member on board

Greenpeace says it will not hinder the medical transfer.

However, it says it will try to prevent the refuelling and the ship's return to the Southern Ocean as part of its protest against Japan's killing of whales for scientific purposes. .. <cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1536852.htm

Last Update: Thursday, December 22, 2005. 10:19pm (AEDT)
Whaling program lacks scientific credibility: NZ

The New Zealand Government has released a damning report on Japan's whaling program, saying it lacks scientific credibility.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter said that under the program now under way in the Southern Ocean, known as JARPA II, Japan would more than double the number of whales it killed.

"Those whales will be killed inside the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and well outside Japan's own territorial waters," he said in a statement.

"For any nation to contemplate this kind of program, it should at the very least have a robust scientific justification. Japan does not.

"This critique has been compiled by New Zealand's internationally respected whale experts. It demonstrates that the reasons Japan is using to kill whales in the Southern Ocean lack scientific credibility." ... <cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1536824.htm

Bastards!

But what is the Australian government going to do to protect these vulnerable creatures?

"Research facilities" (Japanese whaling ships), my boot!:

Last Update: Friday, December 23, 2005. 12:11pm (AEDT)

Whaling a diplomatic incident: Brown

It is claimed the Japanese killing of whales in Australia's Antarctic waters is tantamount to a diplomatic incident.

Greens leader Senator Bob Brown says Australia should have sent a surveillance ship to the area to document what he describes as the bloody carnage.

The whaling ship Keiku Maru is heading to Hobart with a sick sailor.

Senator Brown says the Australian Government should detain the ship and call in the Japanese ambassador

"This is a diplomatic incident and our diplomacy has failed," he said.

"It must be ratcheted up as there are many ways in which that can be done.

"The Prime Minister needs to ensure that he's responding to public feeling on this, he's way behind the game at the moment." ...


----

.... Japanese Fisheries Agency spokesman Hideki Moronuki says the protests are counter-productive.

"I have to ask them to refrain from doing such dangerous activities, including disrupting our research facilities in the port," he said. ...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1537149.htm

Last Update: Friday, December 23, 2005. 6:47pm (AEDT)

Japanese fleet suspends whaling, Greenpeace says

Greenpeace says a Japanese fishing fleet in the Southern Ocean has abandoned its whaling activities for the time being, while it tries to shake off the environmental group's tagging ships.

Greenpeace has dogged the whaling operation for days and says the Japanese fleet has now steamed north at high speed away from the ice shelf.

Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shallhorn says today has brought good and bad news.

"The good news is that no whaling has happened since yesterday, the bad news is that Prime Minister John Howard seems to be hiding from public pressure, claims he can't do anything to save the whales and that's just not good enough," he said. .. <cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1537393.htm

Greenpeace = terrorists.

Obviously the japanese whalers have enough respect for human life, no matter how retarded, to not just blast the Greenpeacers out of the water.

These GP bozos have aligned themselves with PETA, another domestic terror organization. These "people" are targeting children barely old enough to read with cartoons saying things like "My daddy kills animals" when they are being taught to fish by their parents.

These "people" have something wrong with their brains.

Sorry for dumping on your thread msolga, but there's more going on here than just a battle over whales.

so what. There is no justification for this whaling activity. Its not research, its playing with words in order to harvest sushi.
Whether or not GP has aligned itself with PETA is immaterial to the action that Japan has taken. I support hunting when the population is known to be sustainable. The Japanese havent provided any evidence that the populations they hunt are, indeed, sustainable. Now they have announced that they will double their minke kill.

cj-you are just adopting an "anything that deals with hunting is ok with me" mentality.

Tora, tora, tora! Anti-whalers raise stakes
By Andrew Darby, Hobart/Aus.
December 24, 2005

The hardline anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd yesterday raised the stakes in the Antarctic whaling crisis, saying it was about to attack the Japanese fleet and could lose its own ship.

Sea Shepherd's leader Paul Watson said his group aboard the ship Farley Mowat anticipated a battle that he had been working towards for 25 years.

"We have been warned that the Japanese have firearms and that they intend to aggressively resist us," Captain Watson said. "We may lose our ship and find ourselves in lifeboats within the next few hours. I am quite sure we will sustain damage." .. <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/tora-tora-tora-antiwhalers-raise-stakes/2005/12/23/1135032185146.html

The Sea SHepherds, NOW WERE TALKIN.
Greenpeace has morphed into a cloak room skulking bunch of pussies. The shepherds dont take any ****.
Sorry cj, I happen to like these enviro terrorists.

What do you know of them, farmerman? They certainly sound like they mean business!

The global effort to stop all commercial fishing has begun. This is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

I don't get outraged over the killing of a few whales. We didn't get to the top of the food chain by eating tofu. Blech!