Outrage over Japan's plan to slaughter humpback whales

Media news coverage on whaling is very scarce in Japan. They may be making people in Japan blind about whaling.

That's interesting, satt.

It gets huge coverage here in Oz. As you can see from all my posts! :wink:
But then, the more liberal (mainstream, as well as alternative) media is very sympathetic to the anti-whaling cause. And the public seems very receptive. Could be one of the reasons Sea Shepherd set up a branch here (Melbourne) recently.

I get multiple links to news reports from yor posts on this thread, msolga.

Peace in the southern ocean for the rest of this whaling "season"? Now wouldn't that be something? :

Pleased to be of service to you, satt!

They're pirates. Hope you're prepared to repel boarders (Melbourne).

I'm a Melbournian, cjhsa, & I'm delighted to have Sea Shepherd here. It's an privilege!
They'll be docking here on Thursday.:

Whaler-hunters claim victory as ship limps into port
February 20, 2007/the AGE


Sailors return: The Sea Shepherd vessel Robert Hunter enters the port of Melbourne yesterday.
Photo: Craig Abraham

ANTI-WHALING campaigners hope to make their controversial "pirate" ship the Farley Mowat a permanent attraction in Melbourne's waters.

The flagship of the anti-whaling group the Sea Shepherd Society is scheduled to arrive at Docklands on Thursday after three months hunting Japanese whalers.

Sea Shepherd president Paul Watson said he hoped to convert the Farley Mowat into a whale museum and keep it docked in Melbourne.

"We have actually been planning on retiring the Farley Mowat," Captain Watson said.

"If the Government wants to seize the (ship), then they can have it … but we would like to set it up as a whale museum and whale education centre."

Captain Watson arrived in Melbourne yesterday aboard the Mowat's sister vessel, the Robert Hunter, just before the deadline stripping it of British registration.

He said that under maritime law, ships without a flag could be confiscated and the crew arrested.

The Robert Hunter must register under a new flag before 11am today (midnight British time). The Farley Mowat's registration has expired and the its future is in question.

Captain Watson said a country he could not yet reveal had agreed to re-register the Robert Hunter.

The two ships have been trying to disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic since early December. Last week the Robert Hunter and the Japanese whaling ship Kaiko Maru collided.

Captain Watson said the collision caused damage to his ship's bow. The Robert Hunter did not ram the Japanese ship, he said.

"If we rammed the ship, we would tell you we rammed the ship," he said. "What happened was the Kaiko Maru was forcing us into the ice flows and we were trying to get out. They moved right into us and pushed us into the flow."

Customs officers boarded the Robert Hunter within minutes of it docking near the Telstra Dome for a routine search.

But this did not dampen the spirits of the 37 crew members clad in Sea Shepherd T-shirts.

"We are just grateful and happy that no more whales will be killed this year, and that the Japanese only got half their quota," Captain Watson said.

"We are not responsible directly for it but we are happy with the results."

A spokesman for federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile said while the two Sea Shepherd vessels had been allowed to enter port, the Government did not endorse the anti-whalers' tactics.

"While the Government remains strongly opposed to all commercial and scientific whaling, permission for the Farley Mowat and Robert Hunter to make safe landfall is not an endorsement of the methods of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society," he said.

Last night in the Antarctic, Japanese seamen working on the factory whaling ship Nisshin Maru, crippled by a fire that claimed one sailor's life, were preparing to re-start its engines.

Power had been restored, according to Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for the ship's owner, the Institute of Cetacean Research. He said there was a 50-50 chance the ship would be able to resume whaling.

"I think in the very beginning things looked very serious, with the death of a crewman, but the crew are working around the clock and the damage may be less serious than thought," Mr Inwood said.

According to Greenpeace, sea ice continues to gather in the Ross Sea. Expedition spokeswoman Sara Holden said the Nisshin Maru and the rest of the fleet had drifted away from the ice but a change in the weather could leave them trapped.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Nisshin Maru should be moved out of the Antarctic as quickly as possible.

"I think it needs to be towed back to where it came from," she said. "And one would hope that the fact that this season has been so ghastly for the Japanese whaling fleet … might give cause for reflection on whether they come back again."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/whalerhunters-claim-victory-as-ship-limps-into-port/2007/02/19/1171733684743.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

.... New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Nisshin Maru should be moved out of the Antarctic as quickly as possible.

"I think it needs to be towed back to where it came from," she said. "And one would hope that the fact that this season has been so ghastly for the Japanese whaling fleet … might give cause for reflection on whether they come back again."

Yes. Go, Helen! You tell em!
And congratulation for showing a damn sight more integrity & guts in this situation than my own government is displaying.

The Japanese whaling presence in Antarctic waters is seen by many of us here as an act of arrogant aggression. How dare they conduct their "research" in a whale sanctuary! How dare they totally disregard the rulings of the IWC! And how irresponsible to waste precious time dilly-dallying around, given the awful possibility of an oil spillage in this pristine environment, rather than give Greenpeace some positive publicity for assisting them!

If Oz wasn't self castrating you'd have blown them out of the water before they came near your harbor.

Such a sad state of affairs. Prepare to be boarded.

Perhaps you'd like to elaborate on these Australian self-castrating tendencies? :wink:

And how (& for what reasons) does one "prepare to be boarded"? Sounds a bit kinky to me!

Court case against whaling firm proceeds
February 26, 2007 - 9:14PM/SMH

The Humane Society International (HSI) says its case against a Japanese whaling company can now resume after the animal rights body served legal documents.

HSI Australia director Michael Kennedy said the legal documents were served to the headquarters of whaling company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd in Tokyo last week in accordance with a Federal Court ruling.

HSI launched legal action against Kyodo Senpaku in 2004, estimating the company had killed well over 850 minke whales within Australia's whale sanctuary near Antarctica since 2000.

Japan, as with most nations, does not recognise the legitimacy of the sanctuary.

In May 2005, Federal Court Justice James Allsop refused HSI permission to proceed with the case after federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock controversially raised concerns it could spark a diplomatic incident between Australia and Japan.

Mr Kennedy said HSI was determined to go ahead with the case even though this summer's Southern Ocean whaling program appeared to have ended early because of serious damage to its whaling factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, and the death of a crewman.

"We are relieved that the hunt appears to be stopped for the season, but this will not deter the hunters from returning again next year, unless we can stop them with the law," he said in a statement.

Mr Kennedy said that late last year, HSI was informed that, in a highly unusual diplomatic move, the Japanese government had refused to serve the legal documents to Kyodo Senpaku in accordance with the usual international channels.

"HSI then gained court approval to serve the documents via alternative means, both in person and by registered post to the head office of the whaling company," he said.

"The person who served the documents will now file an affidavit confirming the successful service which will enable the proceedings to continue."

He said the next hearing would be in July and HSI was optimistic of a resolution before the next whaling season begins.

© 2007 AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Court-case-against-whaling-firm-proceeds/2007/02/26/1172338547057.html

Maybe it is time to completely ignore the Humane Society "Anything".

Whalers look set to end hunt
February 26, 2007 - 11:33AM/the AGE

Japanese whalers are likely to end their controversial whale hunt in Antarctica early and return to port, their spokesman says.

Greenpeace also said the badly damaged mother ship, Nisshin Maru, and the rest of the fleet, including whale chasers and the tanker Oriental Bluebird, were heading north today at six knots. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/whalers-look-set-to-end-hunt/2007/02/26/1172338516573.html

Last Update: Friday, March 23, 2007. 10:00pm (AEDT)



Damaged ship hauled in 508 whales


Back home: The Nisshin Maru was stranded near the Antarctic coast after catching fire last month. [File photo] (Reuters)

Japan's main whaling ship has limped into port with a haul of 508 whales after it caught fire last month and was stranded near the Antarctic coast.

The blaze aboard the Nisshin Maru, the 8,000-tonne flagship of Japan's whaling fleet, killed one crew member and crippled the ship.

It raised fears at one point that oil or chemicals could spill into the Southern Ocean, close to the world's biggest Adelie penguin breeding colony.

It was the first time in 20 years that Japan was forced to shorten its Antarctic whaling expedition.

Japan's fleet took 505 minke whales and three fin whales instead of a planned 850 minkes and 10 fin whales.

The country's Fisheries Agency says plans for the rest of the year, including whether the Nisshin Maru can return to service for next season's hunt, depend on the result of inspections of the ship.

Japan's whaling is a focus for protests by environmental groups, who say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global ban on commercial whaling.

This season's hunt was marked by several violent clashes with anti-whaling activists, including one in which acid was poured onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru, slightly injuring two crew members, and another in which protest vessels collided with another ship.

After the fire broke out, Greenpeace offered to tow the stricken Nisshin Maru with its anti-whaling ship, Esperanza, but Japan declined, saying it could get help from nearby Japanese vessels if necessary.

The Esperanza is set to arrive in Tokyo on March 28, where Greenpeace will invite officials from the Fisheries Agency and the Institute for Cetacean Research on board.

Japan says whaling is a cultural tradition. It has expressed increasing frustration with the International Whaling Commission in recent years.

Last month, it hosted a special meeting of the commission aimed at shifting its focus to whale management and away from the whaling ban.

Japan repeated a threat to leave the group if changes were not made within months.

- Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1880334.htm

msolga, good news from Mexico!

Saving the world's last unspoiled gray whale nursery
at San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja, Mexico.

The Mexican government has just announced that 109,000 acres of
federal lands surrounding this spectacular whale habitat will be
donated for conservation. This fantastic decision may well be
the nail in the coffin of a decade-old Mitsubishi plan to build
the world's largest industrial saltworks on the shores of the
whale sanctuary.
Mitsubishi withdrew the saltworks scheme in 2000, in the face of
worldwide opposition spearheaded by NRDC. But its Mexican
partner (ESSA) has always left open the frightening possibility
of reviving the scheme. Any such revival has now been thwarted
by Mexico's decision to protect the acreage that was critical to
the saltworks plan.

But there's even more good news.

The government made its dramatic announcement in the midst of a
full-day telethon on TV Azteca, one of Mexico's biggest TV
networks. The telethon conveyed our cause to 30 million viewers
and raised $350,000 -- money that will help our conservation
alliance buy up even more development rights around the whale's
lagoon.

That's important, because our fight to save the whale's nursery
is far from over.

San Ignacio Lagoon is still vulnerable to plans for oil and gas
drilling . . . to proposed massive high-rise hotels . . . and to
schemes for resort marinas and ocean-bound ships.

That's why it's absolutely critical that we press ahead with our
visionary plan to permanently protect all ONE MILLION ACRES of
land that surround the lagoon.

Thanks to the generosity of NRDC Members, our alliance has
already acquired the development rights for 140,000 acres of
communal and private lands -- and put them off-limits to
industry and developers forever.

When you add in the government's 109,000 acres, we've now
secured permanent protection for 249,000 acres around one of the
greatest whale breeding grounds on earth. Two years ago, such
protection was just a beautiful dream. It is fast becoming
reality.

What does it mean for the whales?

When hundreds of pregnant gray whales arrived at the lagoon this
winter -- after swimming 4,000 miles from the frigid Arctic --
they did not find a lagoon transformed by Mitsubishi into a
wasteland of round-the-clock industrial activity, toxic
pollution and ocean-going tanker traffic.

Instead, they found what generations of whales before them have
always found: the one place on earth where their newborns can
enter the world as mother nature intended: wild and free.

[/B]More News...A federal judge ruled the bush administration illegally set policies for logging national forests {after the fact, but at least the ruling will stand} Court proceeding arn't over. The administrations will answer to another federal magistrate re: drilling leases.

Excellent news, Stradee!

Thank you so much for letting us know!

Yur welcome, msolga!

Progress!

Indeed, Stradee!

Rather nice, for a change!

Diplomacy push in whaling deadlock
Andrew Darby, Hobart
April 10, 2007/the AGE

A DIPLOMATIC push will try to break the global deadlock over whaling by shifting the issue up a notch, into the hands of government leaders.

Negotiators on both sides of the dispute are now openly advocating looking beyond the regulating organisation, the International Whaling Commission, to resolve the matter.

A conservation symposium at the UN in New York this week will be told that IWC commissioners have probably gone as far as they can by negotiating. Pro-whaling nations have separately agreed that it may now be up to governments.

But such a shift is unlikely to ensure an end to whaling, which remains the Federal Government's goal.

Instead, Japanese whalers preparing to harpoon Australian humpbacks later this year claim the whales can be taken in a sustainable yield.

Despite the global moratorium on commercial whaling that followed their wholesale slaughter in the 20th century, the IWC has been unable to stop expansion in recent years.

Last year the governments of Japan, Norway and Iceland issued permits to kill a total of 2292 whales of five species in the Antarctic, North Pacific and North Atlantic.

Japan's hunt is conducted under a self-awarded scientific permit, while Norway lodged an official objection to the moratorium, and Iceland has been whaling under both provisions.

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently described whaling as an "archaic practice" that had to stop, as he condemned Iceland's plans to expand its hunt, taking more endangered fin whales.

But frustrations over expansions of the hunt are met in the IWC by equally vigorous attempts to overturn the moratorium itself.

At the last IWC meeting Japan and its supporters gained a single-vote majority that declared the moratorium was "no longer necessary", although they lacked the three-quarters of votes needed to end it.

Since then, three more nations, Cyprus, Croatia and Slovenia, have joined the 73-member IWC as anti-whaling nations fight back.

Ahead of this year's IWC meeting in Alaska, its current chairman, Bill Hogarth, of the US, and Japanese vice-chairman Minoru Morimoto, have announced plans to discuss its future, given its impasse.

Meanwhile, Japan called a meeting on "normalisation" of the IWC, intended to find a way to return the organisation to its roots in fisheries management.

The meeting in Tokyo last month was boycotted by Australia and 25 other anti-whaling nations, leading its organisers to conclude that there was a climate of mutual distrust in the dysfunctional IWC.

Among the suggestions for overcoming the deadlock was that nations should consider looking at governments, rather than commissioners, to resolve the situation.

This week a former New Zealand prime minister, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, will chair a symposium at the UN where there is expected to be a strong focus on shifting talks up a level.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/diplomacy-push-in-whaling-deadlock/2007/04/09/1175971016559.html

Not much chance of this at all!:

Last Update: Monday, May 7, 2007. 6:49am (AEST)

Govt urged to take Japan to court over whale hunt

A team of international legal experts says Australia could stop Japan's scientific whaling program if it went to court.

The team says Australia could take Japan to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or the International Court of Justice to stop the controversial whale hunt.

The claim came as the latest International Whaling Commission meeting got under way in Anchorage, Alaska.

The panel found that Japan's so-called scientific whale cull breaches a number of key international conventions.

Don Rothwell from the Australian National University says humpback whales will be targeted this year and the Government should consider the legal option.

"There's an arguable case I think the Government should be taking and one I am fairly confident they would be successful in," he said.

"We have to remember the Australian Government has taken these cases in the past where they have developed legal principles, in the French nuclear testing in the 1970's and in other related cases, where the Government has been out there pursuing environmental principles.

"I think this is a similar sort of case."

Mick Mcintyre from the International Fund for Animal Welfare says diplomatic efforts have failed so far and the Federal Government has no choice.

"Being an election year I cannot see the Australian community putting up with a Government not doing anything," he said.

But the Federal Government says all the legal options have been considered.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1915705.htm