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

Humpbacks Spared - But Not Minkes or Fins

(Artist credit: Christian Lassen)

Eh, seems the news releases are causing a little confusion about Japan suspending the whale hunt this season.

To clarify, it appears they will sign off on suspending the hunt for the 50+ humpback whales they had planned to kill. They still continue with their plans to hunt down and kill over 900 Minke and Fin whales.

Japan on verge of dropping humpback kill - but will still pursue Minkes

So it's a semi-victory at this point in time. Still something to celebrate, but yet more work needs to be done and the protests need to continue to be heard.

Screw this. Japan relationship still good

Excerpt:

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Mr Garrett on Wednesday announced the federal government would send a formal diplomatic protest to Tokyo and send a Customs vessel into the Southern Ocean to monitor the Japanese whale hunt.

and

"We think the relationship is robust enough and there's enough good relationships between us ... to have a difference of opinion on this issue," Mr Garrett told the Nine Network.

A difference of opinion? Pbbbllltttt It's still about politics and greed.


Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reminds me of Bill Clinton's policy of "Don't ask, don't tell" regarding gays in the military. Mr. Rudd is playing both sides of the fence and trying to please everyone. The problem with that is, he's not taking a very strong stand on the issue of whale hunting because he cares more about his country's economic relationship with Japan.

Read more here: Japan put on notice

Another news release: Japan seen halting humpback whale hunt

Excerpt:

Japan has apparently agreed not to kill humpback whales during its current Antarctic hunt, the U.S. ambassador to Tokyo said on Wednesday, a move that could help ease criticism of its controversial whaling programme.

Sorry, that's bullshit. I do not see this easing criticism and it shouldn't. Japan's claims that killing over 900 minke and fin whales is for scientific research is completely bogus. There are so many other ways to do scientific research on these mammals without harming or killing them. This continues to be, in my opinion, a serious outrage.


United States pushes Japan to Halt Whale Hunt

A Japanese official said there was no written agreement to halt the hunt, but acknowledged that Tokyo could be considering changes to its whaling program in light of the fierce international opposition to the hunt.

and

Critics say the program is a shield for Japan to keep its whaling industry alive until it can overturn a 1986 ban on commercial whaling.

One step forward, two steps back. I see this as a very slight improvement and it comes across to me as sort of a temporary means of appeasing people and to get them to back off a bit.

I don't think so.

Late addition due to a new press release:

Japan Denies Agreement on Humpback Whale Kill

Excerpt:

A spokesman for Japan's Foreign Ministry says there is no formal agreement yet on abandoning his country's plans to kill up to 50 humpback whales in the Southern Ocean this summer.

Last night, the US Ambassador to Tokyo revealed that Japan may agree to abandon the humpback kill because of international concerns.

The ABC has been told that an agreement could be finalised later this week.

Tomohiko Taniguchi from Japan's Foreign Ministry says he is not aware of an agreement at this stage.

Someone needs to get their stories straight and stop screwing around on this issue.

Mahalo,

Dolphin

Japan's New Whaling Fleet

(Artist Credit: Jean Luc Bozzoli)

According to Greenpeace, it seems that Japan, despite global pressure to cease and desist with their whale hunts, may be secretly planning to build a new whaling ship. Doing so would keep Japan extending it's whaling operations for decades to come.

Please check out the following link and take a moment to let the Japanese Prime Minister know how you feel:

Japan's New Whaling Fleet


On a lighter note, Greenpeace has honored Mister Splashy Pants with his own holiday greeting card. It's cute.

Happy Holidays from Mr. Splashy Pants

In recent coverage out of Australia:

Keep your hands off Migaloo

Migaloo is a rare albino breed whale that is in danger of being killed by the Japan whaling fleet. Japan won't give a commitment that they'll spare this rare white whale. Apparently in sushi restaurants around the world, whale meat can go for about $90/kilo but the Migaloo could demand a much higher price due to its rarity.

Ain't gluttony and greed grand?

Apathy in the face of whale slaughter

By this Saturday, the Japan whaling fleet will be in position to begin meeting the whale migration and start it's killing.

Excerpt:

"Yet the only intimidating presence that stands between the whaling ships and the slaughter of more than a thousand whales - the Japanese have set themselves a quota of 1030 - will be a private ship sailing under a Jolly Roger on which the crossed bones have been replaced by a trident and a shepherd's crook. The shepherd's crook signifies that this ship is operated by Sea Shepherd, the environmental vigilante of the sea . . . "

Go Sea Shepherd go!

Mahalo,

Dolphin

Scientific Whale Slaughter - Yeah, Right

It's interesting that the Japanese do not eat a lot of whale meat, which is further indication of how unnecessary their whale hunts are. It's also interesting that they claim to not care what the rest of the world thinks about their whale hunting, and yet they are seemingly scrambling about, finding ways to use the whales to their maximum benefit (aka greed) while still calling it "scientific research."

A Japanese company says it will start offering whale curry in its takeaway business lunches, as the country pursues its controversial whale hunt in the Antarctic.

Read more here -> Beautiful whales to end up as $6 curry

"I'm getting so tired of the biased articles I read in Western newspapers each year at this time," says Dr Pastene, who supervises nine scientists studying whale samples at Tokyo's Institute of Cetacean Research.

It is the work his team does here that drives Japan's "scientific whaling" program, and in turn provokes international outrage. Invariably, he says, the substance of his research is lost amid invective from activists. "It's time someone told the truth," he insists.

Also:

This and other research, Japan's Fisheries Agency insists, is all carried out with the innocent aim of monitoring changes to environmental conditions and whale populations in the Antarctic. That could require "employing control of whale populations if needs be", the Government says more ominously in its whaling plan.

Read more here: Japan stands by its renewed 'scientific' whale slaughter

I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but if so-called scientists like this are aiming to control our marine population in the "greater interest of the planet," I'd suggest we start with the human population. Is there a reason why we can't co-exist with our wildlife? Why is there such a need to drive or to do away with our animal kingdom? They are as much a part of our planet's ecosystem as we are, if not more so.

People move to the mountains and complain about the bears or raccoons invading their properties, their trash, etc. Hello? If you're going to live in the mountains, then you know better to expect that you're gonna see bears and whatnot. What right do we have to just push them out? The animals were there first.

People move to the beach and live within some master-planned community where the developers surround the property with a glass enclosure. So what happens? Birds fly into the glass and get killed. But that's okay because, ya know, the residents there want their views of the environment but they sure as hell don't want the wildlife. (A story on this is here: Glass Wall of Death Surrounds California Suburb)

You can't have your cake and eat it too. All wildlife on this planet are a crucial part of our ecosystem. We are not the end all, be all of this world and we need to stop acting like we are the only inhabitants of this tiny space in the universe we call Earth.

Mahalo,

Dolphin

Sea Shepherd vs Greenpeace

There's a good article over at Sea Shepherd about animal rights activist, Allison Lance. The article discusses how she came to be an activist and her involvement with the Sea Shepherd organization.

One thing she said: "We go out and we find a long (hooked) line, it could be 100 miles (160 km) and (the net) catches everything: there's swordfish, there's marlin, there's albatross," she says. "And then sharks. Sharks are very important to our ecosystem and we are losing them at a great rate, just for shark fin soup. They take the shark, cut the fin off and throw the body back still alive. Imagine the pain."

How does this sort of cruelty serve a "scientific purpose," according to Japan?

Read more here: Making a difference

In further news on the whale hunt news of late, the good folks at Sea Shepherd have publicly spoken out about wanting to work in communion with the folks at Greenpeace. Both organizations have stated they are on their way out to the Antarctic waters to meet the Japan whaling fleets and to intervene on Japan's plans to kill more whales.

Sea Shepherd has never had a violent interaction with anyone on their issues. They believe in peaceful, non-violent means of intervening.

Greenpeace, on the other hand, has and continues to, unfortunately, be controversial in their methods.

Ultimately, I admire what both organizations are trying to do here and I pray for everyone's safety and that no one gets hurt, even the Japan whalers. And finally, I hope to God that there is minimal, if any, killing of any whales out there in the waters.

In other related Sea Shepherd news, the founder and President Paul Watson, wrote an interesting commentary yesterday about the Makah tribe, located at Cape Flattery, Washington.

Here is an excerpt:

And now five extremely inept members of the tribe, men who reportedly were considered the most competent and skilled modern whalers of their people have together displayed an exhibition of gross dishonor, unbelievable disrespect and colossal incompetence with their cruel and tragic murder of a defenseless gray whale.

Read more here: Five Incompetent Makah Make a Mockery of Traditional Whaling

One last thing I'd like to get responses on.

Is it possible for someone who is not a vegetarian, to be respected as an animal / wildlife rights activist? Why or why not?

Post your thoughts please. As long as there is no hate and no vulgar language, I will publish all comments.

Mahalo,

Dolphin

Dolphin & Whale Culling

** Warning: What follows is a little graphic in its details as to how dolphins are being slaughtered in Japan. ** Excerpt from the Humane Society webpage:

What Is a Drive Fishery?

Fishermen take out several small motorized boats to locate a pod of bottlenose dolphins, Risso's dolphins, or false killer whales (and possibly such other species as pilot whales). Once the fishermen locate a pod, they begin herding the animals toward shore, using the noise of the boats' engines and the banging of pipes underwater. There are some reports that they also use underwater explosives.

The fishermen will then either drive the animals right onto the shore or trap them in a bay. Either way, shallow water is necessary, because fishermen slaughter the dolphins by getting into the water and moving through the pod, stabbing animals to death. The fishermen may set some live animals aside for marine parks and remove them from the water using slings or stretchers. Animals destined for slaughter may be hauled out onto land with cranes, often still alive. The cruelty is enormous.

Want to help? Speak out?

The Japanese media have covered this issue poorly or not at all. Contact media outlets in Japan and politely ask them to print stories about the controversy surrounding these hunts, or consider writing and submitting an op-ed to some of the primary Japanese newspapers including:

The Sankei
(opinion@sankei-net.co.jp)

The Nikkei
(webmaster@nikkei.co.jp)

Hokkaido shimbunsha
(info@hokkaido-np.co.jp)

Jiji Tsushin
(webmaster@jiji.com)

Kyodo Tsushin
(feedback@kyodo.co.jp)

These "drives" by Japanese fishermen have been going on for years. Global pressure on Japan continues but Japan continues, for the most part, to defy these protests. If this culling of dolphins and whales continues, these beautiful mammals that are vital to our marine ecosystem could become more endangered and even extinct.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, a world without all that which personifies nature and is a reflection on each of us, is a world devoid of soul.

Mahalo,

Dolphin