Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

well, todays your lucky day. We can top that whaleburgerwith a dugong chutney and serve it with a side of bald eagle krispy wings

Mmmm...wings!

msgola, all the letters and protests are working!

Newsletter:



I have the best news of the year to share with you - are you ready for it? The Gorton's fisherman and his Japanese parent company have agreed to get out of whaling. That's right, thanks to you, we've proven that whaling is bad for business. And I want us all to take a minute to celebrate together.

More than 25,000 of you wrote to Gorton's, sent postcards, attended whale watching parties, folded origami whales and made generous contributions, all to send Gorton's a clear message: Get out of the whale killing business. Well, in less than four short months, you've managed to get the largest corporate shareholder in commercial whaling to agree to get out of the whaling business altogether.

And that's not all...the rest of the corporate shareholders in the Japanese whaling fleet have also decided to divest their shares of the business rather than face your wrath.

This doesn't mean an end to so-called "scientific" whaling, but it does mean that public pressure is gaining momentum and forcing corporations to jump ship. I can't tell you what a tremendous milestone this is, and words can't express how grateful I am for everything you've done to make this happen.

This is the most important victory I've seen since commercial whaling was officially banned in 1986. You have so much to be proud of. But the fight is far from over, and now we're gearing up for what could be the greatest threat yet. The next meeting of the International Whaling Commission will be taking place in June, and Japan is threatening to win the majority vote and overturn the commercial whaling moratorium. For years, the Japanese government has spent billions of Yen buying votes on the commission, and this year could be the critical year that they manage to turn the tide. Our own government will have a critical role to play, and we expect a lot more from them than we've seen lately if we're going to prevent this from happening. So stay tuned for the next round.

Now that you can see for yourself how effective your actions have been, I hope you won't pull any punches come June. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.

Thanks again!

Your friend,


John Hocevar
Oceans Campaigner

Yes!

(hugs Stradee)

We've been hearing similar news at this end.

Wonderful!

(But now what are the Japanese going to do with all that stock-piled whale meat, hm?)

Hugs to you too, msgola!

Good Job!

The International Whaling Commission meeting in June will be very interesting. Cannot wait seeing the list of bribees <is that a word ?>
the Japanese will attempt convincing - and probably offering a few warehouses of whale meat in exchange for votes.

However, all who wrote, called, and protested Japans weird science...

You all are terrific!!

More than a good job, Stradee! A FANTASTIC job! Take a bow, all you discerning shoppers!

Me, I will not go anywhere near a Greenseas products in Oz. No.

The IWC will be "interesting" again, no doubt. How many more small nations can be bribed? How many more will suddenly discover that they're interested and join? (Remember last year? )

I will try to keep interested A2Kers posted on the Oz side of the IWC doings. They generally receive good publicity here.

Cheers to you, Stradee,
Olga

Excellent news. Now, the next batch are the Icelanders and Norsk.

I hope the Japanese are faithful to their heritage of honor. Once they, as a nation, turn on a dime on some policy such as this, they often become the biggest defenders of the new.

Welcome to fold Japan!!

Sydney, Australia:

Whalers return: fleet must be decommissioned

Friday, 14 April, 2006 : The Japanese whaling fleet - centre of a series of dramatic encounters with Greenpeace anti-whaling protestors earlier this year - returns to port today facing a collapse in commercial support, discredited science and too few consumers.

Greenpeace today called for the whaling fleet, which is carrying nearly 1,000 dead whales (1) from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, to be permanently decommissioned.

"If alternative work cannot be found for the fleet then the vast Japanese
tax payer's subsidies which keep it afloat would be better spent on finding
real jobs for those involved in the whaling" said Shane Rattenbury, head of the Greenpeace International Oceans Campaign. "Japanese tax payers must be asking what they are getting for their money."

During the five and a half months the fleet has been at sea its commercial backers have decided to pull out arguing that there is no commercial interest in the whale meat from the Sanctuary. It has been revealed that stockpiles of whale meat have nearly doubled over the last decade to 5,000 tonnes. The international community has condemned the research as fake.

"The whale hunt is bankrupt on all counts: financially, morally, ecologically and scientifically. Under the guise of science, for twenty years the Government of Japan has kept the whaling fleet on life support,
its time to face the fact that the whaling industry is dead in the water," concluded Rattenbury.

Despite the lack of commercial support and consumers, the Japanese Government is continuing to spend tax payer's money in a bid to bring about the return of commercial whaling. The Government of Japan has spent billions of Yen on buying votes at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).(2) At the forthcoming June IWC meeting the Fisheries Agency of Japan claims it will be able to secure a majority of votes to back its call for continued research and plans to push for an end to both the international moratorium on commercial whaling and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

----------------------

As a result of its persistent vote buying campaign, the Fisheries
Agency of Japan is likely to get a simple majority at the June IWC meeting.[/B] If they get the majority they will be able to elect the new Chair and Vice Chair and will control the voice of the IWC. They will use this to endorse 'scientific' whaling, to tell the world that whales have recovered and that whaling is necessary for health of the ocean ecosystems. The endorsement of 'scientific' whaling is likely to be in the form of a resolution. At the 2005 meeting of the IWC Japan presented a resolution with 20 co sponsors in which the Commission urged Japan to continue whaling in the Southern Ocean.

At last years IWC meeting, Mr. Nakamae, of the Japanese delegation said: "As has been revealed this year, our side's supporters are about to reach a majority soon. Some of you are so glad that some poor sustainable use countries could not attend this meeting. However, next year they will all participate, the reversal of history, the turning point, is soon to come."

http://www.greenpeace.org.au/media/press_details.php?site_id=8&news_id=1961

Greenpeace is a terrorist organization.

cj. Whaling needs to be stopped. The Japanese are learning this. The fact that it often takes steps that you disagree with, means nothing in the big sweep of time.

What will you do when there are too many whales?

err, cjhsa - the ones with the harpoons and club hooks are the ones with no concience, no guts, and no brains.

greenpeace 'terrorists'???

Greenpeace, sea shepherds, peta, alf, elf... whatever you call them. All terrorists.

Everything dies. I like blood sports.

how brave, cj...how manly...how...

How conservative of me (as in conservation).

Are you a member of the Sierra Club stradee? Those good folks who got lion hunting banned in California, so now the lions aren't afraid of humans any longer? One was killed just a few miles from my prior residence - in Palo Alto.

awww ittow kitty.

It was no little kitty, more like a teenage mountain lion. The police officer who shot it has taken loads of grief from the animal righties, who choose to ignore the officers reasons for doing so (school was about to let out). To the AR mind, a lion is more important than a child.

cj, infringement is the cause - not the animals.

we are the invaders of thier territory, not the animals.

man will some day learn how to coincide with all of nature, instead of attempting to control everything for thier own benefit.

without a balanced eco-system, both humans and non-human animals won't survive. Shooting animals is not 'conservation'.

Oh yes it is! Obviously you've never bothered to count dead deer in the spring. We have no choice but to manage wildlife and wild areas. There is a reason that in one of the largest urban national parks, Don Edwards in the east bay, that there is heed given to hunters and fisherman. Because they paid for it. For over 100 years hunting and fishing has been regulated in every state, with the license fees and other taxes paying for much of the conservation you see today.

Maybe you don't know where Palo Alto is but it's pretty urban. Lions often make their way down the creeks to the bay, but when they start showing up in neighborhoods perching in tree forts, showing no real fear of humans, you have a problem.