Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

Yes it does, rather, doesn't it?


(farmerman, you've changed! I didn't recognise you! )

Damage to the bow of Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.
Photo: Kate Davison

I don't see much damage, but I do see one really, REALLY, gay boat!

I think I saw that with wheels on Castro Street during pride week once.

Things hot up in the Southern Ocean. It's going to be very, very hard for the Australian government to remain uninvolved if this continues. Then things will really hot up here!:

Japan's whalers threaten to call airborne police
By Deborah Cameron, Tokyo
January 10, 2006


Crew from the Sea Shepherd get up close and personal with the giant bow of the Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru.

JAPAN will consider scrambling police aircraft to the Antarctic to defend its whaling fleet and may ask Australia to act against Greenpeace.

"If Greenpeace action becomes more aggressive, the Fisheries Agency may ask the Maritime Police Agency to dispatch aircraft," the deputy director of the Far Seas Fisheries Division of the Fisheries Agency, Hideki Moronuki, told the The Age yesterday.

"Or the agency may ask the Government of Australia to take action to normalise the situation."

The possible request to Canberra for protection creates a diplomatic minefield for Australia. Japan is Australia's biggest trading partner and a crucial regional ally.Japanese alarm is rising over the scale of anti-whaling protests following an attempt yesterday by the hardline anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd to disable the Nisshin Maru.

Sea Shepherd activists in inflatable dinghies tried to foul the ship's propellers using heavy ropes. The attempt was made as Nisshin Maru fled at high-speed following Sunday's collision.

Sailing in close under the bow of the Nisshin Maru, the activists tried to heave the lines under the hull. They failed.

Nisshin Maru was still running clear of pursuers yesterday, except Greenpeace's larger vessel, Esperanza.

On the Esperanza, expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said there was no sign of the rest of the six-ship Japanese fleet and no whales were being processed.

He said the damaged Arctic Sunrise had held watertight after Sunday's collision and was still in the campaign.

The possible dispatch of quasi-military aircraft under the guise of the police to quell a civilian protest in the Antarctic would take the whaling debate to a new level.

The length of the flight between an air base in Japan and the Antarctic raises the prospect that Australia would be needed for a refuelling stop and might be asked to grant access to an air corridor.

A spokeswoman for Environment Minister Ian Campbell would not comment on the Japanese plan other than to say the Government did not "deal with hypotheticals".

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/whalers-will-call-police/2006/01/09/1136771500570.html

Unfortunately its not like Green Peace is Government funded at all so what it looks like is not very relevant - I hope they remain there like an annoying little flea on the ass of a greedy dog! :wink:

(I think cjsha prefers a more masculine looking ship, Kiwi! :wink: )

01/08/2006/Sea Shepherd:


Sea Shepherd Sideswipes Japanese Whaling Supply Ship

At 0030 Hours GMT - 09 Jan 2006 (1930 EST Hours - 08 Jan 2006): The flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Farley Mowat, continues to chase the outlaw Japanese whaling fleet out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary after sideswiping the Japanese whaling supply ship Oriental Bluebird.

Captain Paul Watson ordered the Japanese-owned Panamanian ship Oriental Bluebird to leave the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. The Japanese supply ship was waiting to rendezvous with the Nisshin Maru to continue the off-loading of whale meat for transport back to Japan.

"I informed the Oriental Bluebird that I was acting under the authority of the United Nations World Charter for Nature to uphold international conservation regulations prohibiting the slaughter of whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. When they refused, we backed up the message by slamming our starboard hull against their starboard hull."

There was no damage apparent to either ship aside from a long scratch along the hull of the Oriental Bluebird caused by a device attached to the Farley Mowat's hull called the "can opener." The blow was meant as a warning to convey the seriousness of our order for them to leave the area and to stop assisting with the illegal slaughter of whales.

After the collision, the Oriental Bluebird began running with the Farley Mowat in pursuit. Farley Mowat First Officer Alex Cornelissen reported. "We are not down here to protest whaling. We are here to uphold international conservation law. This ship is assisting an illegal operation and thus has no business in the whale sanctuary."

On the stern of the Oriental Bluebird are the words "whale meat" painted on the ship by Greenpeace activists yesterday. Says Cornelissen, "Greenpeace tagged the ship yesterday and we keyed it today."

The Oriental Bluebird, now referred to as the S.S. Whale Meat, is desperately trying to rendezvous with the Nisshin Maru. Sea Shepherd believes that the number of whales that the Japanese are taking exceeds the carrying capacity of the factory ship and that it is essential for the Nisshin Maru to offload whale meat in order to continue. There is simply not enough room on the Nisshin Maru for 935 piked (minke) whales and 10 fin whales.

The Oriental Bluebird flies a flag of convenience, registered in Panama, and is operated by New Shipping Kaisha Ltd, Tokyo, Japan. The ship, formerly known as the Hiyo Maru, is a fleet replenishment vessel built in 1979. It is a double-hulled ship, approved for carrying oil as cargo, and is 143 meters long with a dead-weight of 9,751 tons. The Oriental Bluebird is listed as a supply ship for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in a report titled "Flags of Convenience, Transshipment, Resupply and At-Sea Infrastructure In Relation To IUU Fishing" prepared in 2004 by International Oceans Network for the World Wildlife Fund.

Sea Shepherd believes that harassing the Oriental Bluebird is a tactic that can delay their illegal whaling operations. The Oriental Bluebird is no innocent bystander. It is very much a participant in this pirate whaling operation by Japan.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_060108_1.html

Wow, what a bunch of crap Msolga. Did you read what you just posted?

Who contrives this drivel? I have a feeling that they learned their craft from Mr. Murdoch, even if they are not of his opinion.

I did.

The news items are from impeccable sources, cjhsa, like the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news & the Age newspaper.

Last Update: Tuesday, January 10, 2006. 3:43pm (AEDT)

Govt warned not to aid whaling surveillance

Greenpeace is calling on the Federal Government to reject any request from Japan to use Australia as a refuelling base for planes monitoring its whaling operation.

Japan's Fisheries Agency says it may consider sending planes to police its whaling operations in the Southern Ocean if anti-whaling groups keep disrupting their work.

Steve Shallhorn, from Greenpeace, says Australia should not take part in the exercise.

"For an aircraft surveillance plane to leave Japan and go to Antarctica and back they'll certainly require refuelling somewhere and an option would be to refuel in Australia," he said.

"I think that the Australian Government would be very wise to say to the Japanese, 'No, we're not going to allow your aircraft to be refuelled in Australia'."

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown says protests will ensue if the Federal Government agrees to any request from Japan.

"How stupid would a federal government be to allow Hobart or Perth to be used to facilitate Japanese police coming through to intervene against Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd and, therefore, to facilitate killing whales," Senator Brown said.

"We would see some of the biggest onshore protests the nation's ever seen if the Government were to allow that to happen."

Environment Minister Ian Campbell's office says the Minister will not comment on hypotheticals.

Collisions

The anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd says its ship deliberately side-swiped a Japanese whaling supply ship yesterday.

At the weekend, a collision occurred between Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise and a whaling vessel, Nisshin Maru.

Japan blames Greenpeace for that incident, but conservationists say the whalers were the aggressors.

Hideki Moronuki, from Japan's Fisheries Agency, says it is not yet necessary to call in Japanese police aircraft to protect the fleet.

"If the actions of Greenpeace or Sea Shepherd would be escalated further I may have to ask Maritime Police Agency for their assistance," he said.

"But so far no escalation has been observed."


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1545006.htm

"The anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd says its ship deliberately side-swiped a Japanese whaling supply ship yesterday."

That action gives the Japanese Navy, if they had one, the right to fire on the silly shepherds.

a really stupid PR move cj. The Japanese ships did it first, I guess the can openerincident is some childish pay back. I lkie the idea of using the towed hausers to tangle up in the props. That could do some major damage to the turbines

I heard on the radio this morning that the NZ Government Green Party tried to push the deputy Prime Minister here to send a frigate over to aid the Greenpeace vessel..he said 'No' which was quite reasonable I thought

...but there would be no way in hell any of the Japanese would be able to refuel in NZ without the sh*t hitting the fan..esp after the french bombed Greenpeace's 'Rainbow Warrior' resulting in the death of one person while the vessel was docked in the Auckland harbour here a few years back.

Last Update: Wednesday, January 11, 2006. 3:04pm (AEDT)

NZ Air Force monitors whaling protests

New Zealand's Air Force is monitoring clashes between Japanese whalers and environmental activists in Antarctic waters.

However, the NZ Government has refused to send a warship to the area.

In the past week, a vessel from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has deliberately rammed a Japanese whaling vessel.

In a separate incident, a Greenpeace boat collided with the whaler, the Nisshin Maru.

Both sides blame each other for that incident.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter has brushed aside a demand from the Green Party to send a Navy frigate to monitor the escalating confrontation.

Mr Carter says the Navy has no legal authority in international waters.

"At this point, it is my view it would not serve any purpose to send the frigate, in fact, it might even inflame the situation further," Mr Carter told Radio New Zealand.

He says New Zealand aircraft have been monitoring the confrontation between the fleet of six Japanese whaling ships and the conservationists.

Mr Carter notes the Air Force's main mission is to look for illegal fishing activities in the southern waters.

Australian lobbying

Australia's Federal Government has been asked by Greens Senator Bob Brown to send a Navy ship to the Southern Ocean.

It has also been asked to refuse any request it may receive from Japan to use Australia as a refuelling base for its own police patrols.

Japan has said it is considering calling in its maritime police.

However, the Federal Government has said it will not respond to hypothetical questions.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.

However, Japan has continued hunting for what it calls scientific research - a claim rejected by critics.

Despite international protests, Japan has this year more than doubled its planned catch of minke whales to 935.

It has also added 10 endangered fin whales and plans to eventually lift the number to 50, along with 50 rare humpback whales.

"Japan is under enormous diplomatic pressure internationally over this issue," Mr Carter said.

"The Japanese are getting acutely embarrassed by these images of bleeding and dying whales being dragged on board their boats."

- AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1545733.htm

"In the past week, a vessel from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has deliberately rammed a Japanese whaling vessel."

Not really, it is clearly stated that the protesters account is disputed.



I wouldn't think so. But how do you suppose any tempering of the whalers would result in anything but prolonged suffering for the whale?

It could be that the whalers deliberately avoided the protestors, figuring that they were trying to obstruct the hunt by distracting the whalers, thus missing the whale for longer than they othervise would. I fail to see how that would be a good thing though.

Sadly such things occationally happans when hunting, still the eco fanatics in my part of the world tend to think of wild game as a more ethical foodsource than factory meat.

That certainly confers the right to turn the harpoon on the protestors, though they were off course targeting the unarmed suplyship.

But anyway, that is likely what happened in the first colition incident. The protestors were trying to dart across the bough of the supplyship draging hausers, but failed as the japanese continued at full speed, perhaps even turning to pass in front of the protestors. Consequently the protestors are hit at the very bough of their ship.

Einherjar, Thats your story and your stickin to it .

Nah, just speculating.

I admit I have a hard time figuring out how the protestors would manage to get hit from the side without trying something funny though. It seems to me they could have just speeded up or slowed down if they thought the supply ship was trying to ram them, those supply vessels aren't the most agile of ships. They should have had plenty of time to get out of the way after it became apparrant that they were on a colition course.

Anyway, as only one contested account of events have been put forward, speculate is all we can do.

Einherjar, there's a video of the collision at the greenpeace website. Interesting footage. Also at the main page of the site, there are links to daily logs written by the crew of the Esperanza and Sunrise.

Video page:

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/the-expedition/news/whalers-ram-ship-111

Greenpeace International:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/

Those are certainly unbiased accounts.

I'm not biased either. Just sink the Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd ships and be done with it.

Whaling court ultimatum issued
January 14, 2006/the Australian

A HARDLINE environmental group has promised not to attack Japan's whaling fleet if Australia takes the Japanese to court to try to stop the annual slaughter.

Sea Shepherd, which has promised to "shut down" the whaling ship Nisshin Maru, today said it would give Australia and New Zealand two days to announce a legal challenge against Japan.

The group's founder Paul Watson, skipper of its flagship Farley Mowat in the Southern Ocean, earlier threatened to ram the Japanese whaling fleet.

"If either New Zealand or Australia agrees to take Japan to court over the whaling issue, Sea Shepherd will agree to withdraw from confrontation for this year in order to allow an opportunity for a proper legal challenge," the group said.

"Captain Watson has agreed to not attack any Japanese fleet for 48 hours to give New Zealand and Australia an opportunity to act responsibly."

Mr Watson said Japan was in violation of the laws of the International Whaling Commission, the Antarctic Treaty and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat, skippered by Paul Watson, is about 160km from the whalers.

Environmentalists attached to groups Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace have been involved in high-seas harassment of a Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.

The Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise was involved in the collision with the Japanese whale processing ship Nisshin Maru last Sunday, putting a 1.5-metre dent in the Sunrise's bow and bending its forward mast.

Australia has declined to take action against Japan, with Prime Minister John Howard insisting he has made his anti-whaling views known to the Japanese Government.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17823286%255E1702,00.html