Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Call to end ALL Whaling

(Artist credit: Jean Luc Bozzoli)


This is an interesting article written by a professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland:

The Whale Hunt that Knows No Tradition

Some excerpts that I liked:

Another argument Japan makes in favour of whaling is that it is for scientific research. Simply, if research destroys a species it should not be carried out, and if research is necessary to improve the ecological well being of a species every effort must be made to minimise the impact of the research.


and

If the research was genuinely concerned with conservation of the humpback it would not be abandoned for a better bilateral relationship, or the hunt would not even have been considered in the first place. Humans are in no position to "cull" wild species, except in cases in which our past mistakes have skewed the natural balance and thus need to be corrected, such as with the cane toad.


also

The extent of the impact of humans on the planet is undeniable. This must be compensated for in every way possible, and we must keep changing unsustainable practices. Clearly it is time to move on.



It's a small victory that the Japanese whalers have agreed to not hunt the humpbacks for at least a year or two. In saving face and keeping with their national "pride," they deny that they buckled due to increasing global pressure. However, the pressure is still on and globally, people are not backing away.

Japan is currently in the hunt to kill at least 50 fin whales and over 950 minke whales. Fin Whales are considered either endangered or vulnerable, depending on who you talk to and who you're reading.

Battle Turns to Rare Fin Whales

It will be the first time fin whales - the second largest creatures on the planet - have been hunted since the 1960s. They were brought to the edge of extinction before commercial whaling was banned in 1986, and even now may number only 5000 in the Southern Ocean.

The Australian Government made a formal diplomatic protest, backed by 31 countries, in Tokyo on Saturday night to mark the start of Japan's whaling season.

Sir Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, said killing fin whales was unacceptable. "They are more endangered than humpbacks and they are much bigger. These animals are very difficult to study. The idea that you're going to kill them off before you find out about them is really pretty awful."


Meanwhile, Greenpeace refueled yesterday morning and headed back out to the Southern Ocean, in search of the Japan whaling fleet.

In keeping with their peaceful, non-violent means of protest, Greenpeace will attempt to "foil" the whalers by placing people in six inflatable boats situated between the Japanese harpoons and the whales to protect them from being killed.

Read more here: Greenpeace out to foil Japanese whalers

Over 41,000 people have signed the following petition, pressuring Japan to end ALL whaling. Have you?

Sign the petition to end whaling

Mahalo,

Dolphin



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