Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

It might help if you read what you posted.

I think cj feels that whatever means is used to block the illegal whale hunt is "harrassment". Its wrong to be harrassing the killers, the sushi hunters should be allowed free access to initiate the process of extinction , thats his mantra.
The number f Minke whales has gone from >2.5 million to about 800000, and they are the "most numerous " of the baleen whales. I dont call that good management at all, whos gonna get the last one, will cj give a ****?
Im amazed at how cavalier most of the hunting crowd is about this.(I browsed your link from the "Nuges" pbb. I dont think, from reading many of those responses, that Id be so quick to parade that site out among the public. Some of those guys are loons)

One of the reasons I never got too friendly with the hunting clubs , was they developed this sense of entitlement to merely kill and be damned the science behind game management.
In Pa, the hunters got all beside themselves when the past PA GC director tried to manage the deer herd by imposing some limitations o the "harvest" The data was there
1Deer numbers were declining in great numbers in the state forests

2 Deer were exploding in suburban areas (but not in numbers to make up for the natural losses due to sustained hunting and predation and disease in the large forested areas where deer should be most abundant. Losses of cover and diet due to declines of oak and hickory have led to starvation of deer )

So, they did what every good Pennsylvanian does, They pushed to have the Commissioner fired. Now the deer herd is declining faster and even the dumass hunters are noticing it and so they are blaming HArrisburg instead of their own greediness, some nimrod is gonna have to give up his license for a couple of years, no doubt about it. I used to say that hunters were the greatest conservationists, lately Im not so sure that the "hunter" gene pool hasnt gotten a little contaminated by yahoos.


Maybe, if the Japanese and others (in competition) are allowed to "harvest" whales just like stalks of corn, we will see that eventuality that was played out in one of the Star Trek movies, where the planet got down to its "last whale".

And again, I don't think farmerman read msolga's post that I was referencing.

There's a lot of anti-hunt loons here too, farmerman.

CJ,

I've tried to explain to you that I am anything but anti-hunt! I've told you about JayBea's family who hunt for winter meat, and some of them wouldn't have meat if they didn't.

Anon

Anon, I wasn't necessarily referring to anyone in particular, or even anyone on this thread, for that matter.

I really don't know what you're on about, cjhsa. That was my last post.

No new developments to report from the Greenpeace Australia site. But I found this article very interesting. US readers might, too - the connection between whaling & big business:

Who is Gorton's?



Gorton's fish fillets

Whaling is not just the concern of governments and cryptic political meetings. There is big business involved. While whaling is not profitable, you might be surprised to learn of some famous seafood companies' connections to whaling. We're asking you to help us make the whaling stop.

Who is Gorton's?

With total annual sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Gorton's of Gloucester is the market leader in frozen seafood products in the US. The company even invented the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish burger. Its frozen battered shrimp, fish sticks and other ready-to-eat foods are sold at grocery stores across the US.

In 2001 Gorton's was sold to its current owner, Nissui USA, for US$175 million. Nissui USA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nissui, Japan's second-largest marine products firm, with operations in the United States, Argentina, Chile, the Netherlands, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. But Nissui is closely linked with the annual "scientific" whale hunt in Japan.

So, despite Gorton's clean-cut family business image, it is actually a Japanese multinational company whose parent company is involved in whaling. ... <cont>

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/our-oceans/whaling/gortons

... & the latest update from Sea Shepherd:

01/04/2006

Update from the Farley Mowat in Antarctic Waters

It is now 11 days since the Japanese fleet has killed a whale. They have fled from the far east of the whaling area to the far west and the fleet is now steaming south to attempt to take whales once again.

Three conservation vessels have chased six ships of the whaling fleet for over 3,000 nautical miles without the Japanese being able to shake the pursuit. The Greenpeace ship Esperanza is still on their tail. The Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat is en route to intercept. It has been a long chase, over 3,000 miles of stormy and iceberg laced seas. The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is also on the way towards intercepting the whalers.

If the Japanese fleet has fled to the Western end of the whaling zone to avoid us, they will fail because we are on our way and we intend to disrupt, harass, and obstruct them when we close with them once again.

Eleven days without a whale being killed. Their season is 100 days which means that the combined efforts of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd have already cost them 10% of the time allotted for their illegal whaling activities. Each day a whale is not killed is a victory for the whales.

There is no doubt that the 2005-2006 Japanese whaling season has seen the most aggressive disruption ever. The Japanese fleet is running scared and we know who they are scared of. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is not down in these remote waters to protest their activities, we are there to stop their activities.

The Captain and crew of the Farley Mowat will remain in Antarctic waters for as long as their fuel holds out and the ship has not yet used half of her fuel supply. We still have a few more weeks yet to stop the Japanese fleet from killing whales.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_060104_1.html

Shoot the pirates (i.e. Farley Mowat). Enough already.

I'm off to buy some frozen Gorton's fish filets.

I volunteer the French to get rid of Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds. After all, attempting to sink the Rainbow Warrior was one of their last great military maneuvers, and they haven't been contributing in the least towards the war on terror.

Neither have we!!

Anon

Huh?

I'd suggest you spend some time talking to our troops, either deployed or back from.

I have entertained your positions since you were being somewhat reasonable for a change Anon, but after that last comment, I'm done.

Do I Care? Let me check ... Nope, I don't care!

Anon

cjhsa

I can only assume that your knowledge of the Rainbow Warrior incident is rather sketchy, at best. Otherwise you wouldn't be so casually endorsing what actually happened. An innocent photographer on board the Rainbow Warrior died in that incident. It was considered to be murder. The Rainbow Warrior was in in the area to monitor French nuclear testing on the Mururoa Atoll. (Something I seriously doubt that you would like to see in your immediate neighbourhood.) Greenpeace had the full support of many people in the region for taking this stand. The bombing was a shameful incident instigated by the French government. You have (possibly inadvertently) offended many people living in the south Pacific region by your flippant comment. Please think before you post in future.

Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

Whaling resumes in southern Ocean
January 5, 2006 - 3:34PM/the AGE

Japan has resumed whaling operations in sub-Antarctic waters, ending a 10 day break in which no whales were caught.

The Japanese fleet is being shadowed by the Greenpeace vessels Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise.

Greenpeace says it has spotted at least seven whale carcases aboard the processing ship Nisshan Maru.

The protest ships lost contact with the Japanese vessels early yesterday and saw the dead whales when they caught up with them late in the day.

"This is the first chance they've had when we haven't been with them," Greenpeace expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said from the Arctic Sunrise.

"They've done their refuelling and got back into the whaling grounds."

Protesters are preparing to harass the fleet in small craft, using tactics including portable pumps fitted to zodiacs which spray up a wall of water to frustrate harpoonists.

Mr Rattenbury said they had other tactics available to disrupt the whaling operation, but would not elaborate.

"We've got a few tricks up our sleeve yet," he said.

The six ship whaling fleet is currently just south of the Australian territory of Heard Island, in the southern Indian Ocean about 4,000 km south-west of Perth.

Japan plans to take 935 minke whales and 10 fin whales this southern summer under its scientific research program.

Greenpeace maintains the kill is a commercial operation.

Australia this week dispatched a research team aboard the Aurora Australis to the Antarctic to undertake a range of studies, including into minke whales and their food.

The expedition is part of the Australian Antarctic Division program.

- AAP

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/whaling-resumes-in-southern-ocean/2006/01/05/1136387559400.html

From Greenpeace:

5 January 2006
Everybody goes back to work
by Andrew, onboard the Esperanza

Our return yesterday established that running from us will not work, and for now at least it is a strategy the whalers have given up on. For now, they hunt whales, and we protect as many as we can by placing our boat in front of their harpoon. This is what we spent the morning doing:

At 08:50 we saw them bring in their first whale. We were ready, but we waited. Then they brought in a second. We put the Billy Greene in the water - Cat driving, Joe, Yuko and Alain as crew. And the Esperanza moved closer. But still we waited. Then came our old friend the Kyo Maru to deliver the whale, and we stopped waiting.

For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon the Billy Greene, later joined by the Mermaid, dogged the Kyo while it hunted. Twisting and turning, going in circles, chasing one whale after another while Cat kept her boat in position - a spray thrown straight up from the stern by the boat's fire pump. For almost two and a half hours it continued. It's impossible to describe the level of concentration this sort of driving requires. Looking forwards for the whale, looking back for the hunter, your crew shouting advice. Whale after whale escaped. Some were mothers and calves.

In the end the harpooner only needs one good shot. It wasn't until the fire pump ran out of fuel, that they got one. The Mermaid moved in and still held the Kyo off. The crew on the Billy G had just got the pump going again and was out in front when the gunner hit an exhausted calf at close range.

So it goes here in the internationally recognized Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archive/2006/01/everybody_goes.html

Greenpeace -6th January:

Feature:
Whaling and protest resumes
The Greenpeace crews of the Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise ships are again defending whales in the Southern Ocean after 10 days of no whales being killed.

Expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said: "We caught up with the whalers late last night and saw seven whale carcasses on the deck. Four activists in an inflatable boat are on the water, near the Kyo Maru catcher ship, acting to defend the whales caught in the sights of the harpoons."

"The Esperanza crew saw at least four more dead whales being transferred from the two catchers today," added Shane. .. <cont>

http://www.greenpeace.org.au/features/features_details.html?site_id=45&news_id=1885

Last Update: Friday, January 6, 2006. 6:05pm (AEDT)

Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research, the group conducting the whaling, has requested US surveillance of the protest ships. (ABC)

Greenpeace dismisses Japanese anti-whaling spy claim

Greenpeace has laughed off claims by a Japanese whaling organisation that the US Navy is spying on its protest ships in the Southern Ocean.

The claim is contained in the latest bulletin from the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research (JICR), the group conducting the whaling.

It claims the information is being gathered for the US Civil Marine Analysis Department's worldwide report on piracy.

The JICR is hunting whales in Antarctic waters in the name of research but Greenpeace is harassing the fleet.

The JICR says US naval intelligence is monitoring Greenpeace by satellite for evidence of piracy.

Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shallhorn says US naval intelligence has got better things to do than watch a whaling protest.

"I think that the whalers in Japan are delusional in thinking that the US Navy's going to help them, especially when their own Navy is not doing anything to assist them," he said.

The claim has angered (Australian) Greens leader Senator Bob Brown.

"I am writing to the US Embassy to ask for an explanation. I mean the Japanese are the pirates down there," he said.

"It's illegal, they are eco-criminals and it's the Japanese whaling fleet that needs to be monitored under the piracy program."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1543113.htm

From today's Sydney Morning Herald:

Whalers fire harpoon near activists
January 6, 2006 - 7:34PM/SMH

A harpoon from a Japanese whaling vessel was fired between two inflatable boats crewed by anti-whaling protesters in Antarctic seas, Greenpeace says.

The incident occurred as the dangerous cat and mouse battle between protesters and whalers continued near Antarctica today, with Greenpeace reporting at least 20 minke whales had been slaughtered in the past 48 hours.

But the environmental activist group claimed some success, maintaining its tactics of harassment had allowed other whales to escape the harpoons.

Greenpeace expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said protesters' Zodiac inflatable boats were on the water trying to get between hunted whales and harpooners for the second day running, with whalers and protesters both having some success.

Mr Rattenbury said the stakes for whalers as the Antarctic clash entered its second week, were increasing.

He said 20 whales killed in the past two days meant the whalers were below the quota level required by the Japanese to fill its target numbers of 935 minke whales this summer.

No fin whales, a much larger species, had been seen slaughtered. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/whalers-fire-harpoon-near-activists/2006/01/06/1136387621219.html