Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

Au contraire, read that as "...hunting has no place in the 21st century...".

Please......

Thankfully there are lots more people like me who are fighting against the soulless and clueless anti-hunters. It's always sad but hilarious when one of 'em gets killed by a shark, or bear, or some other cute and cuddly critter they're trying to save.

Target: HSUS.

sad but hilarious?

the word you're looking for is "ironic"...

Whales, cjhsa, whales.
Try & stick to the topic, hey?

cj

If you werent so damned paranoid about losing your hunting rights , perhaps you come off as a bit more even keeled. Surely you dont condone whaling just because someone is doing it? what about the slaughter of elephants? or rhinos? because these are being driven to extinction, do you support someones "right" to poach?



Hunting duscks and geese for supper=OK with me

killing whales in a sanctuary, witha 20 year moratorium against doing so (as agreed by most civilized nations) =not ok with me


Can you even see the difference???
or are you some nimrod version of an aspergers syndrome sufferer.

Since when is hunting elephants illegal? It isn't. Old, unproductive bulls are often harvested by hunters who pay a great price to do so. That money in turn is used to help finance the rebuilding of the herd and expanding their range.

Why should non-endangered whales be any different? Allow a certain number to be harvested, and charge a large fee to do so. That money could go back into marine mammal research. I mean, comon, how many whales die every year from beaching themselves? Far, far more than any Japanese whaling ship kills. How many die of natural causes?

You all seem to think I'm here supporting the whalers. I'm not, I'm fighting the antis. They hate all hunting and fishing and even stepping on bugs. They have effectively removed themselves from the cycle of life that supports us all, and in my mind, they threaten our survival as a species.

I think you all need to go back and look a the pic of the little terrorist on the Sea Shepherd preparing to throw acid into the eyes of a human being, simply because that human is on a whaling ship.

Next, they will be hurling acid at models in Paris wearing fur on the runway, or dumping it out of trees onto unsuspecting deer hunters.

You really should go look.

So, it's all about your fears - and not about the whales at all

My fears are founded in the reality that terrorists suck.

Last Update: Saturday, February 17, 2007. 9:19am (AEDT)


Nisshin Maru: Greenpeace says its tug is within sight of the whaler. (Reuters)

Greenpeace says stricken whaler open to offer of help

Environmental campaigner Greenpeace says a stricken Japanese whaler off the Antarctic coast has asked its protest ship Esperanza to stay close, as fears of an ecological disaster mount.

The Japanese previously said they would not accept help from Greenpeace, describing the organisation as "eco-terrorists".

The Nisshin Maru, a whaling factory ship, has had no propulsion since a fire erupted below decks on Thursday.

The Esperanza, a former Soviet tug, is within sight of the whaler.

"We can see them now and we are here to offer any assistance they need," Greenpeace spokeswoman Karli Thomas said from Esperanza.

"As far as we are concerned the Nisshin Maru is not a whaling ship now, it is a vessel in distress."

Ms Thomas said they had been in direct contact with the Japanese skipper to assure him they were there to help.

"He received our offer and basically said yes, please stand by. They know we are here and on stand-by," she said.

There are fears 1.3 million litres of fuel could leak into the ocean if the ship founders, leading to an ecological disaster.

Ms Thomas said Esperanza was the most suitable towing ship in the area and its Dutch skipper, Frank Kamp, had 10 years' experience as a salvage skipper.

There is sufficient equipment on board to tow the whaling ship.

"The logical choice would be to the nearest port - the nearest port would be somewhere in New Zealand," she said.

Ms Thomas said conditions were reasonably calm but they were not expected to last.

"Conditions down here can be extremely hostile and the main thing is to secure the ship, make sure everyone is okay and get the ship out of the area," she said.

"It is a pristine environment down here and we can't risk any damage to that."

New Zealand's Conservation Minister, Chris Carter, has said it is imperative to move the stricken ship before the existing window of fine weather closes at the end of the weekend.

The cause of the fire was not known, but authorities ruled out any connection with recent protest action by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, one of whose ships collided with a whaler this week.

- AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1850208.htm

Oh great. Potentially a huge oil spillage in the Southern Ocean & the Japanese haven't decided whether to call it quits or not yet? It sounds as though The Esperanza is capable of towing the Nisshin Maru to a NZ port. How could there possibly be there any delay about taking up this offer immediately? What on earth are they waiting for?

Incidentally, the so-called "Institute of Cetacean Research" in Tokyo has been carrying out it's "research" by killing whales in the Antarctic for years now. Perhaps they can enlighten us about its "findings". It'd better be some amazingly ground-breaking stuff to warrant the deaths of so many whales, which are supposed to be protected in a sanctuary!:

Last Update: Saturday, February 17, 2007. 7:17am (AEDT)

Japanese whaling ship has history of fire

The stricken Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters, the Nisshin Maru, has had a fire on board before.

The Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo says a fire occurred in 1998, when the ship was on its way to the Antarctic and it made an emergency stop at Noumea in New Caledonia.

Repairs were carried out before the ship returned to Japan.

In December 1998, it had extensive repairs, with almost all of the electrical components and wiring replaced.

The institute says the Nisshin Maru has a full service and maintenance check before each departure to the Antarctic.

It says the cause of the latest fire remains unknown.

The research group is yet to make a decision on whether to continue whaling in the Southern Ocean this season.

Steve Shallhorn from Greenpeace is hopeful the fire will end Japanese whaling efforts for good.

"This may be an opportunity to retire an older vessel, this is the second time there has been a serious fire on board," he said.

"Really perhaps what the Japanese Government should be considering is scrapping this vessel, not replacing it and giving up whaling in the Antarctic Ocean."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1850160.htm

Main media in Japan have fallen into sudden silence after brief report on 15 February about this unfortunate fire on the vessel Nisshinmaru. They do not report the process ongoing as to this accident albeit the fact of a crew member being missed.

cj. Perhaps you should learn to read more analytically. The hunting of elephant , (only licensed in 5 African countries) is an example of the "legal poaching" . Administered by governments who, even though their herds are dwindling will sell anything. Until the Pan African elephant policy was established in the early 80's, the population of African Elephant had dwindled by more than 50% in 10 years. Now, controlled hunting and (mostly) the outlawing of ivory trade worldwide, has put a damper on the populations here and there. (In some areas elephant are actually a pest)
The diference between elephant herds and whales is WE KNOW HOW MANY ELEPHANT THERE ARE, we have no real clue about whales, and where we do, weve already seemed to have passed the line to extinction (humpback, Southern And Northern "Right" whales and even the Sperm whale)

You condone POACHING, for that is what the Japanese are doing , and you refuse to admit it, hence your disconnect with most people on this issue.
Hunting with licenses(no matter how expensive) commoditizes the object hunted and driving to extinction will be even more inevitable when the "Rare" delicacy of whale meat is chosen for no other reason than the fact that it IS expensive..

Sport trophy hunting is totally an insane act by dudes with teeny dicks who want to dominate something. It serves no purpose other than some sick self aggrandizement by owning the flesh of another living thing.

Theres no real sport anyway. Trophy hunting dipshits are armed with guns that can take out an engine block and they are driven around in Rovers and served like Paris Hilton (Thats what 120 to 200 K gets ). Then having the animal stuffed is the end point of insanity(and if you bag an elephant you still cant keep the ivory (ha ha). If you are a trophy hunter then I can pigeonhole you with the other 25 watters who wish to collect the "Big 5". Use an atlatl, give the animal an even break. Technology is so stacjed against the target that the "sportsman" might just as well phone in an order.

Interesting, satt.
Thanks for keeping us informed from your end.
It'd be good if you could continue to do so as any new information regarding whaling appears in the Japanese media.

Greetings from Oz!

Stricken Japanese whaler refuses tow offers
February 17, 2007 - 1:41PM/the AGE tow offers[/size]


The crippled Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru which lost a crew member overboard in an accident last week is refusing offers from Greenpeace to tow it from the Ross Sea off Antarctica.

The 8,000-tonne vessel was badly damaged by a fire on Thursday and authorities are concerned large amounts of oil aboard could leak and affect the world's largest penguin breeding rookeries.

The body of crew member Kazutaka Makita, 27, who was reported missing immediately after the fire, was recovered in Antarctic waters today.

Greenpeace ship Esperanza reached the Japanese vessel early today, but so far the Japanese had refused offers to tow the stricken ship to safety, Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shellhorn said today.

"Our ship has made an offer to tow the vessel to New Zealand, but so far that offer has been refused," Mr Shellhorn said.

"But our ships are in dialogue, and the Japanese vessel has asked us to provide some ice reports, because we have a helicopter."

The Nisshin Maru is currently receiving support from two other Japanese whaling vessels, but forecast bad weather still threatens to cause an environmental disaster, Mr Shellhorn said.

"It has no power of its own, but there are two Japanese vessels on either side of it giving it power," he said.

"Right now the weather conditions are quite calm, which is a good thing, but our concern is eventually the weather will turn, probably in about two days or so.

"A ship that size with no power, if it flounders, it will sink, or it could be pushed onto the ice shelf. In either case we would have a major environmental disaster in the pristine Antarctic environment."

As yet there are no reports on the condition of the 20 crew remaining on board the Nisshin Maru, but Mr Shellhorn said there was no apparent external damage to the ship.

A spokesman for the Japanese government-affiliated Institute of Cetacean Research Glenn Inwood said today the body of Mr Makita had been found, but it wasn't yet clear where it had been found.

"It is very sad for the crew and everyone at the ICR," he said.

AAP

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/stricken-japanese-whaler-refuses-tow/2007/02/17/1171405491072.html

Last Update: Sunday, February 18, 2007. 9:31pm (AEDT)


Stranded whaler faces worsening weather


Nisshin Maru: Greenpeace says pack ice is moving closer. (File photo) (Reuters)

Weather conditions are worsening in the southern ocean near where a Japanese whaling ship is stranded.

The Nisshin Maru has been stricken in the Ross Sea, off the Antarctic coast, since an internal fire late last week that killed one sailor.

Greenpeace is worried the damaged ship could spill thousands of tonnes of oil into the ocean, near the world's biggest Adelie penguin colony.

The Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, is waiting nearby, despite the Japanese fleet's refusal of offers to tow the ship out of Antarctic waters.

A spokesman for the ship says ice is thickening in the area and the weather is worsening.

Greenpeace campaigner Karli Thomas has said from aboard the Esperanza that pack ice to the south is moving closer to the Nisshin Maru.

"[The crew] need to act immediately to start operations to tow the Nisshin Maru before conditions worsen," Ms Thomas said.

New Zealand's rescue coordination centre says crew have restored some power to the whaler's engines and are continuing to dampen down hot spots from the fire.

Centre spokesman Steve Corbett says authorities are waiting for the crew to decide whether they need to be towed out of the area or will remain and continue whaling.

"Their first goal is to see if they can restore full power so the Nisshin Maru can make its own way, but now they have a further two vessels in the area if they need them," Mr Corbett said.

He says New Zealand wants the ship out of the Ross Sea "as quickly and as safely as possible" but no decision can be made on what to do next until the crew finishes assessing the damage to the ship.

A US icebreaker earlier stopped by the stricken vessel on its journey from Antarctica to Hobart and confirmed to the rescue coordination centre there was no pollution leaking into the sea.

- ABC/AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1850693.htm

Whalers face pressure to withdraw fire ship
Andrew Darby Hobart
February 19, 2007/the AGE

PRESSURE is growing on Japanese whalers to move their fire-stricken ship Nisshin Maru from the Antarctic, a decision that would likely save hundreds of whales from the harpoon.

Three days after a blaze burned through lower deck compartments, killing one crewman, all vessels in the whaling fleet were gathering around the Nisshin Maru last night, according to Greenpeace.

It appeared the whalers might be preparing to spread the 160 crew from Nisshin Maru among the smaller ships to enable them to leave the Antarctic, Greenpeace expedition leader Karli Thomas said.

The ship's owner, the Institute of Cetacean Research, was yet to announce its decision.

"They have told us they are continuing with an assessment of the damage and considering their options," Maritime New Zealand's rescue co-ordination centre spokesman, Steve Corbett, said. "We would like them to move the vessel as quickly and as safely as possible."

Australia also sought to persuade Japan that it was in the fleet's best interests to move. "The Government encourages Japan to consider its options and act quickly and responsibly," a spokeswoman for federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile said.

Ms Thomas said she thought it very unlikely that whaling would resume this season.

She also said helicopter flights showed pack ice advancing from the south. "If Nisshin Maru started to get enclosed in ice, it would just make the situation that much more dangerous."

The fleet had planned to kill up to 935 minkes and 10 fin whales this summer. It had at least another month to run of the program.

Meanwhile, the Sea Shepherd activists' ship Robert Hunter is expected to reach Melbourne today, just before the deadline stripping it of British registration.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/whalers-face-pressure-to-withdraw-fire-ship/2007/02/18/1171733612582.html

. What a crock. Shouldnt it be called the "Institute for Creative Cetacean Cookery?"

No news reports on this matter today in Japan.

Nah, farmer.: crockery. :wink:

satt!

You read my mind!

I was just about to post a request to you for Japanese media reporting on the situation.

Has the unofficial meeting of the (pro-whaling) IWC members (called by Japan & boycotted by the anti-whaling member countries) received much coverage?