Still no action on whaling
Blog Post
Wednesday 28th May 2008, 11:11am
by TimNorton in
Senate Estimates have shown the true lack of commitment from the Rudd Government on the fight against whaling in our Antarctic waters.
Under questioning, it was confirmed that the 2008 budget held no funding for a continuation of the customs ship Oceanic Viking (or any other ship) to monitor Japanese whaling fleets in our Southern and Antarctic oceans, making one wonder just what they are doing to do about whaling into the future. Does this mean that the Government will not be undertaking monitoring of Japanese whaling activity into the future?
Not that we can count on anything actually being done about it – after monitoring the whaling operations, documenting the slaughter with pictures, video and other media, the Australian Government have evidently decided to file this away and wait for the Japanese to stop whaling on their own terms.
The Minister for Home Services has claimed success for the operation taken out by the Oceanic Viking, when not one whale has been saved through their operations to date. So far, the only ones who have had any success in preventing whales from being killed in the Australian Antarctic whale sanctuary have been the non-government organisations Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd.
Meanwhile, the Greens continue to call on the Australian Government to close the loophole in the IWC that allows the killing of whales under the name of 'scientific research' and to pursue the international legal case to stop the slaughter occurring in our Antarctic territorial waters.
The yearly migrations of humpback whales up the Australian coast are the mainstay of the whale-watching industry, and losing the species could have drastic effects on the tourism market on our southern coasts.
Humpbacks were hunted to the verge of extinction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with only 3 to 5% remaining when the IWC ban was enacted in 1963. While populations off Australian waters have slowly begun to recover, the population is only a fraction of their original abundance and they are still listed as vulnerable under the EPBC Act.
The Government hasn't been prepared to take legal action to stop the whale slaughter on environmental or humanitarian grounds and the Japanese have continued to up the ante. First they procrastinate about acting on any evidence they have collected, and now it appears they may have given up entirely – therefore creating a farce out of the original expense incurred by the Oceanic Viking mission.
Perhaps it would be more economically responsible for the Government to fund Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd directly, rather than waste Customs time with useless whale watching expeditions?
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Comments
The Japanese should just do
The Japanese should just do the right thing and stop
closer to Oz I'm truly disgusted with what happened in Camden yesterday
1) Antarctic waters aren't
1) Antarctic waters aren't Australian waters.
2) Humpbacks in the Antarctic are generally increasing quite robustly, as even Australian scientists grudgingly confirm.
3) Australia is adhered to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. This agreement was agreed explicitly for the purpose of developing international cooperation amongst nations wishing to exploit these creatures for resources (such as food). This agreement expressly permits all signatory nations to catch as many whales as they like for scientific purposes that any signatory nation believes will further understanding of whale biology etc, thus improving our ability to efficiently manage whaling operations on a sustainable basis.
If Australia does not like the terms of this agreement, it is free to quit it. You guys are crazy if you think Japan is at all obliged to stop conducting operations that it is carrying out legally in what are internationally (sorry, what Australia plus 3 of it's friends think does not count for much) recognised as international waters.
The problem is not the Japanese, the problem is that Australia is adhered to an agreement that it does not agree with. Why doesn't Australia draft a new agreement and seek to get other nations to join up?
Gunnar... Listen and
Gunnar...
Listen and learn.
THERE IS NO REASON TO KILL A WHALE!
THERE IS NO HUMANE WAY TO KILL A WHALE!
WHALES ARE SENTIENT BEINGS AND HAVE SYNTAX IN THEIR SONGS... SYNTAX.... EQUALS... LANGUAGE! The science is available.
Whale flesh is toxic and should not be eaten by any other living being.
Very few Japanese are interested in eating toxic whale flesh.
They breathe air, they bear live young, they nurse their young, they keep their families together, they don't have crime and they live in the water.
SINCE THERE IS NO REASON TO KILL A WHALE THERE IS NO REASON TO HAVE WHAT YOU DISGUSTINGLY REFER TO AS SUSTAINABLE WHALING.
The IWC was formed a long time ago, before people knew anything about whales and lacked in compassion and common sense. When the oceans of this big blue marble were not filled with the toxins and human offal they are now loaded with. That was then, this is now.... it's a new paradigm and things must change.
And just how many whales need to die agonal deaths that last for hours and hours before the stupid Japanese need to kill before they know something? The Japanese must really be stupid if brutally slaughtering a thousand whales a year hasn't taught them anything.
I wish you the same long and agonal death ... just like you wish for the whales.
*Editor - the following has been edited for length. Instead, links to the articles have been provided.*
11/27/2007
Meet the Dr. Mengele of Whales
Commentary by Paul Watson - Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
01/22/2008
Japanese Professor Questions the Existence of Whaling Culture in Japan
Commentary from Professor Jun Morikawa of Rakuno University
Rakuno University Professor Jun Morikawa says that contrary to the claim by the government of Japan, whale meat is not an important part of Japanese culture and there never was a widespread tradition of eating whale meat prior to the end of World War II.
Morikawa is currently in a research fellowship at the University of Adelaide in New Zealand.
The World Today ran an interview with Prof Morikawa on Tuesday, July 19, 2005. Morikawa was interviewed by reporter Eleanor Hall.
You are sorely misinformed and lacking in the ability to do research, so much so that you make claims about the quantity of humpbacks. No one has counted them. These are interpolations and they are incorrect. Interpolations are just that, interpolations, not facts. If you believe them you are a fool.
"THERE IS NO REASON TO KILL
"THERE IS NO REASON TO KILL A WHALE!". I believe there are numerous Native Americans who would disagree. Also, Norwegians, Icelanders and Japanese. Whales are no different from any other animal humans kill for food. For all of the hype about how 'Intelligent' or 'Sentient' they are. If they were intelligent they would figure out a way to keep humans from killing them or develop ways to defend themselves. Maybe Tuna torpedos. If they had a language I think they would have found a way to communicate with us, after the first hundred years or so of us hunting them, to ask us to stop. So, until those things happen.........Happy hunting!
Australia has two solid
Australia has two solid arguments against whaling:
1. There is no humane way to kill a whale.
2. Japan's research program is a sham.
The rest of our arguments are culturally biased and hypocritical. Most Australians are opposed to whaling because they find the idea of eating whale meat repugnant. The same people don't think twice about eating factory farmed meats, shipping live animals overseas, catching endangered species of fish such as orange roughy.
The Queensland Government is now issuing permits for shark finning in the Great Barrier Reef.
What a bunch of ignorant hypocrites we are.
To TruthBeTold: Whales must
To TruthBeTold: Whales must be killed in order to get meat from them. You may not want their meat, but whether or not you recognise that what applies to you does not apply for all of your fellow human beings, we will continue to eat whales, just as you will continue to eat the things that you eat.
For your information, we disagree that whales are treated inhumanely as compared with the animals that people in places such as Australia. We also recognise that all animals communicate with other members of their species, and that in that respect whales are not special. We also have heard propaganda about "toxic" whale flesh. On behalf of my fellow whale eaters, I thank you for your concern for our health, and assure you that we will take full responsibility for our decisions.
Regarding humpback numbers, some information about this for you:
http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/cetaceans/conference/pubs/h...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1153253.htm
In the entire Southern Hemisphere, scientists believe that as of 1997/1998 there were between 34,000 and 52,000 humpbacks in total.
http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/estimate.htm
Personally, I have no interest in eating these whales in particular. I'm happy to forgoe the chance to eat them if you are happy to accept and respect the right of people such as myself to exist.
I think whaling is
I think whaling is appalling. It needs to be stamped out. I thought it would in my lifetime but it does'nt seem like the Rudd government cares really. They are more interested in petrol prices and fueling our dying future.
Daniel, Why do you think
Daniel,
Why do you think whaling is appalling?
No matter of which way you
No matter of which way you look at it, so-called "scientific" whaling is a sham and should be discontinued.
The market for whale meat in Japan is talked up by the whalers to justify their miserable, cruel employment. In actual fact the market for whale meat is very, very small.
With a bit of luck the shortage and increasing costs of fuel oil will see these ghastly people employed in more humane pursuits.
Colin, is it unexpected to
Colin, is it unexpected to you that the market for whale meat is "very, very small", considering the fact that there has been a commercial whaling moratorium in place for the past 20 years?
For your reference, immediately prior to the moratorium Japan and Russia together were allocated a total quota or around 6,000 Antarctic minke whales per year, and Iceland and Norway were exporting whale meat to Japan as well.
Then the useless moratorium came in, hunting abundant minke whales was effectively banned, and by the early 1990's exports to Japan had been stopped.
So, if your problem with whale eaters is that there are few in number, you might want to consider that this is due to supply of the product being choked off.
This situation is a result of the useless moratorium, which effectively only banned hunting of Antarctic minkes, as pretty much all other species had already been protected by the IWC in the 1960's and 1970's after Australia and it's modern day whale loving allies participated in the original over-harvesting that caused the whole damn mess.
I think we should only fund
I think we should only fund Sea Shepherd.
Greenpeace makes alot of money and crew members are paid to do what they do
Sea Shepherd Is non profit and is direct action tactics.
If anyone can stoop the Japanese its them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's good Jack, why don't
That's good Jack, why don't you go and fund Al Qaeda too if you happen to disagree with American foreign policy.
Gunnar, as per your previous
Gunnar, as per your previous comment:
"Personally, I have no interest in eating these whales in particular. I’m happy to forgoe (sic) the chance to eat them if you are happy to accept and respect the right of people such as myself to exist.'
I totally respect your right to live, live and prosper and exist. Live well, be happy, be cool, good health to you and many blessings upon your house etc etc
Now stop eating whales!
If only it was always that simple.
I highly reccoment funding
I highly reccoment funding Sea Shepherd, those guys are great and do alot of great things for the whales, seas and sharks.
www.seashepherd.org
Gunnar, the comparison you
Gunnar, the comparison you draw between terrorists who have killed thousands of people and an environmental organization that enforces international conservation law and has never harmed a single being nor been convicted of a felony in the process is utterly ridiculous.
You can attempt to marginalize environmentally conscious people all you want but the fact remains that left unchecked, the corrupt corporate/governmental system will continue to exploit the planet to utter destruction for nothing but profit - THAT is the extremist position in this story.
Gunnar reeks of Cetacean
Gunnar reeks of Cetacean Research Institute propaganda to me.
Are you so worried about Sea Shepherd you've taken to monitoring their site news and distributing your vile prejudice where ever you get the chance to have an audience?
Thank god for Sea Shepherd! And thank you Tim Norton what a refreshing perspective!
buzz, we won't stop eating
buzz, we won't stop eating whales, no matter how much you tell us. You aren't going to stop eating cows if we tell you to, are you? The difference is that our manners are a notch above yours, so we don't bother in the first place.
Australia hasn't even suggested a compromise along the lines of getting the whales that migrate around the Australian coast protected, in exchange for tolerating sustainable whaling in other parts of the world.
To us, it seems like you guys don't give a crap about the whales, you only give a crap about trying to impose your preferences on others, and maintaining your symbollic (but evidently meaningless) anti-whaling stance.
Daily Veg Editor, It was a
Daily Veg Editor, It was a deliberate comparison to make your other commenter think about it.
It's not the scale of the violence, but the principle. Violence should not be tolerated, whether it be a 9/11 attack, or ramming other vessels at sea (or sinking them in ports).
Zero violence between humans is where decent human societies draw the line.
Sea Shepherd goes beyond that, and fortunately for us whale eaters, some people out there evidently think that violence is justified in some cases. I say it's fortunate because in most of the world such violent behavious is frowned upon by fair-minded people, and certainly those who don't take a particular position on a controversial issue.
"the corrupt corporate/governmental system will continue to exploit the planet to utter destruction for nothing but profit"
There are not that many of us whale eaters that we will exploit the whales to extinction, and we are doing it because whales taste great. If you study your history you'll recognise that the whales were over-exploited when nations such as Australia were hunting them for oil to fuel industrial revolutions.
Those days are gone, we live in the 21st century, and eating whales is entirely sustainable. We will continue to eat whales, so Australia would be better off accepting it, and at least trying to get some compromises to ensure "your" whales aren't targetted on the high seas. A failure to do this indicates that the anti-whaling stance is just empty posturing.
Hello Senator, I agree with
Hello Senator,
I agree with you that the Rudd Government hasn't done enought yet.
I just wanted to let you know that Greenpeace doesn't accept any money from any Government, I think.
Maybe Sea Sepherd does but funding Sea Sepherd is actually the worst things to do.
Because their (SS's) silly activity is very popular among the whaling lobby in Japan, which they (Whalers) can say 'look! Westerns are attacking us. We have to fight against them!'
Then they(Whalers) get more support from the public in Japan and the Government.
The more silly stant, the more power to the whalers.
I think the Greens should have strategic and peaceful plan to deal with this issue.
Regards,
A
The idea of funding Sea
The idea of funding Sea Shepherd is a good one. The group already works with the government of Ecuador to protect the Galapagos islands. They seem to be the only group effective at actually stopping the killing of whales.
Shooting Paul Watson is
Shooting Paul Watson is violent. Throwing grenades at the Sea Shepherd crew is violent; threatening to sink a fully crewed Sea Shepherd vessel at sea in Antarctic waters is violent; shooting an exploding tip harpoon into a whale so it dies after hours in agony is violent. Whalers did all of this earlier this year.
Should this be tolerated?
Shooting P. Watson? Ｉ
Shooting P. Watson?
Ｉ can't believe that actually someone believed it!
That rubbish wasn't even reported in Japan as far as I know...
SS and whalers are way too violence. Poor whales..
Gunnar, you said quite
Gunnar, you said quite clearly you'd stop whaling if we respected your right to "live" and "exist". I did, now you won't stop eating whales - you're a liar amongst other things but I assure you I'm not the least surprised.
And how funny this is, you were the one who said "our manners are a notch abover yours" Yep, great manners you have. You must be so proud of your "manners" especially when you routinely call Australians "cultural supremists" and "racists" in your media.
Japan doesn't even have the balls to come out and say they eat whales to the international community instead hiding like guilty cowardly murdering thugs behind the sham "science" as written on their vessels.
And you wonder why you are so loathed in Australia.
When homo sapiens will
When homo sapiens will evolve in a way that they will no longer wish to eat any animal flesh, only then violence will end on this planet. To that human being who said that if whales were intelligent they would have already figured out a way to stop homo sapiens from hunting them, here is a thought for you: if homo sapiens, sapiens were so intelligent, why are they currently engaged in wars, murdering senselessly one another, not able to feed the hungry, to cure cancer, raping the planet and its living creatures (women included), commit suicide, hate, ...the list goes on. Have you ever thought that homo sapiens is just another animal species which, most probably another, more intelligent lifeform, would find delicious to taste? And please, refrain yourself from non-intelligent replies.
you think paul watson being
you think paul watson being shot wasnt real watch the video footage they got on camera.
you know what gunnar keep eating whales if you want with how much murcury is in it you will learn the hard way that it is very poisonous. its top of the food chain therefor has a build up of murcury which will kill humans. it is austraian waters. yes whale numbers are increasing but they havnt increased enough yet to be able to hunt them they were on the brink of extinction. you say we wont stop eating cows but i disagee if they had enough poison to harm us yes i would and if shooting a cow woulnt kill it straight away instead of taking 4 hours like a whale i also wouldnt eat it.
and donn yes i think alot of australians are ignorant hypocrites but you will find the same people support both acts
i believe it is wrong myself ut thats my choice to belive that i think it should stop because it is ILLEGAL. the IWC have told japan to stop but they told them to get stuffed and said they would continue anyway. did you know that most of the whales killed by japan arnt evan eaten by people they are made into dog food and fed to livestock.
i think it would be a great idea to fund sea shepherd allthough it is never going to happen. but who ever said they shouldnt fund grenpeace i am now in love with you. how much funding do they get allready and it all goes on advertising i gues you have all sen the multi million dollar adds. and paying their crew come off it thats not right.
i cant believe the rudd governtment i can say the only reason i voted for them was because they said they would take the japanese to internation court over this issue but because of the whale culling thig which is also wrong they whimped out of it because japan is a bigger and stronger nation and rudd doesnt want to make enemies well i garentee he wont get another 4 years.
I love how people hid behind
I love how people hid behind the cultural validity argument. That it is not right for our culture to tell another culture what to do or not do, because well it's their culture.
This is horse s--t. One has EVERY right to make a judgement about another; another person, Another group, another country, another Culture. It is called morals.
I believe it is morally incorrect to kill animals in general. I believe it is even more morally abhorrent to kill sentient animals. I believe it is morally wrong fo the Japanese government slip poisoned meat into the food stream of children (which is where much of the whale meat winds up - in school lunches.) And I believe that those who support whaling for ANY reason are morally wrong and a lesser human beings then those who don't.
S_
Its great that there is so
Its great that there is so much passion aimed at making the world a better place. Here is a challenge to consider:
1. What is the likely sustainable world whale population with current whaling practises in place (all else held equal)?
2. What is the likely sustainable world whale population with unmitigated climate change (all else held equal)?
The likely answer to 1 is much higher than the likely answer to 2. The reason being that once an oceans waters exceed 20C mixing with lower levels stops and surface nutrients sink to the bottom and that ocean becomes a desert. The absence of nutrients means all the photosythesizing plankton disappear from that warm unmixed layer. This large scale removal of those plankton massively underminesthe whales nutrient supply and the food chain in general.
Failing to curb climate change will kill far more whales than the Japanese will.
The upshot is that directing your passion for whales into specific climate action will achieve more than verbal stoushes with Japanese.
What action you might ask? How about within the next two years figure out how to personally convince five major party voters to vote Green ahead of the major parties in the senate in time for the next election.
Here's a tip, you won't win them over by beating them over the head telling how bad they are to vote major, instead lay some thoughtful aspiration for a better world on them.
If only one Green voter in ten achieved that we'd have 12% of the vote and be in a position to demand climate action.
Greens at central command could make this task a little easier as well with the right messages. Christene's providing an example of doing a very nice job on that front of being broadly appealing right now.
Hi John Griffin, I am as
Hi John Griffin,
I am as passionate about protecting the whales as I am passionate about curbing climate change. I am an active member of S.S. and also support groups who are actively involved in protecting our environment. I do all my best to step lightly on this planet. My husband has also successfully involved a local labour politician to act in the climate change challenge. The local Green party I feel, is not active enough. They are not aware of current green technology! They are only about not cutting trees! That is not enough to save our planet from climate change. The Green party has to become more knowledgeable about new green technology if they want to lead our Nation in the climate change challenge. The responsibility also lies with each one of us. We have to become activist in our daily routine. No one is spared in the action! And that means that each one of us must be able to sacrifice a little of our "precious" life style. It means also to have the courage to change ourselves. So, the challenge is...."be the change you wish to see in the world".
Gaia
Our oceans are dying. We
Our oceans are dying. We have overfished the seas, 90% of the big fish (whales, dolphins, sharks, seals) are gone as of 2002 according to the Pew Institute. We have polluted it with chemicals, agricultural runoff, plastic, sewage.
Does that matter? If you like to breathe oxygen yes. Plankton is at the base of the marine food chain and creates 90% of the oxygen on the planet. Some is used by the oceans for fish to breathe leaving 70-80% for the atmosphere for us to breathe. Only 20% of the atmospheric oxygen is created by rainforests.
Additionally a healthy ocean uptakes 50% of the carbon dioxide. All fish in the sea help plankton - how? They fertilize it with excrement, ammonia, parasites and eggs. But whales fertilize plankton the most. How? When they breach they slough off dead skin cells at the surface where plankton are busy photosynthesizing. Whales also excrete at the surface. When they dive deep they help accelerate the movement of billions of protein-rich eggs at the bottom of the ocean.
No whale species has come even close to recovering from 200 years of commercial slaughter. Most are down to 10% of former numbers and some as low as 1%. No whaling anywhere is sustainable and Japanese claims of abundant whale populations are disputed even by the IWC and all other marine authorities.
The ocean needs every whale, dolphin, seal, shark, turtle, fish, eel, etc to help it recuperate from the rapacious greed of homo sapiens who sees everything as a resource to be used for his own selfish needs with no regard for the whole ecosystem in which he lives or even his own future or the future of his offspring.
The truth is we are eating the planet to death! At this rate there will be nothing left to eat except each other. And that will be the final solution for people like Gunnar who have not an ounce of compassion or care for others and care only about their own fat stomachs.
Not only that there won't even be enough oxygen to breathe for anyone ...
Helping Sea Shepherd save whales and marine animals and habitats is the most worthy cause for those who care about the planet. Greenpeace does not save whales - they just collect money for whale lovers and only 2% of what they collect goes into whale campaigns. Last season they quit half way through due to "lack of funding" when last year they raked in 127 million dollars! Sea Shepherd's budget by comparison is only 1-2 million dollars. That's because nobody gets paid. 94% of all funding goes directly into the campaigns. However they would never accept money from governments because then they would be forced to do whatever the governments told them. It's good that the Greens made this suggestion though - it shows you their heart is in the right place, at least in some areas....
And if you want to learn about the effect of the ocean on global warming check out http://www.fisherycrisis.com/strangelove.html
Why is the Australian
Why is the Australian government backing down from pursuing the court case against illegal Japanese whaling in the International court of Justice?And why was there no charge for the attempted murder of Capt. Watson on the conservation ship The Steve Irwin?
Capt. Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd put it well here:
http://seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_080520_1.html
In a nutshell, Japan is exposing the hypocrisy of the Australian government for criticising Japan for killing whales when we are conducting the largest slaughter of wildlife on the planet right here - against the kangaroos.
The Australian government doesn't want the truth to come out and to have Australian people awaken from their apathy and slumber and realize that we have been LIED to: in fact kangaroos are NOT in plague proportions, their populations are crashing (according to government websites see http://tinyurl.com/6bafk6 ) from 2001-2006 populations of all 4 main species dropped up to 70%. They are becoming regionally extinct in many parts of Australia where they once flourished.
Nor are kangaroos a pest. Like Capt. Watson said it is the livestock that create environmental degradation, not kangaroos who have been living in perfect harmony with the land for 16 million years and actually helping regenerate grasslands and soil ecosystems.
Both Japan and Australia are wrong for killing whales and kangaroos. But let's face it, there's a profit to be made and neither of them care about the environmental impact of what they are doing, nor do they care about what the people want. And least of all do they care about what the animals they are killing feel.
When are we going to wake up to the fact that we are interconnected. What we do to the one we do to the whole.
Perhaps if we stopped cramming dead and tortured animals into our bodies on a daily basis we might be a more peaceful compassionate species?
Interesting video illustrating this perfectly at the bottom of this web page http://www.theworldpeacediet.org
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