Australia to allow anti-whaling ship to dock
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41 Comments
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0
saborichan
Quit trying to make other countries hold the ball on whether protesting whaling is right or wrong, Mr. Tsuruoka. Regardless if you support or don't support the actions of Sea Shepherd and Steve Irwin, asking other countries to remove their freedom of speech through action is ridiculous.
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Altria
Pwned! The Aussie government has continually come as close to giving the whalers the finger as they can, while keeping enough politeness to maintain semi-friendly relations.
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Athletes
They are not peaceful protesters. I miss Whale burgers. Buy & Go Aussie last!
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soldave
"Japan has temporarily suspended its whale hunt in Antarctic waters after a crewman apparently fell overboard Monday from one of the vessels in the six-ship whaling fleet. The accident was not believed to be related to the Sea Shepherd protests."
It was almost certainly not related to the protests. You think the whalers would have been quiet about it if there was any chance they could put the blame onto the Sea Shepherd protesters?
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davidattokyo
Who cares whether they can dock or not. Whether they get to leave again is a different issue.
0
smithinjapan
"Japan has temporarily suspended its whale hunt in Antarctic waters after a crewman apparently fell overboard Monday from one of the vessels in the six-ship whaling fleet."
That's what we call, "Fukouchuu no saiwai".
0
Altria
The Japanese government, if you read the article.
0
davidattokyo
Here's what Australia (agreed to but) will be ignoring if it lets SS refit and head back out:
STATEMENT ON SAFETY AT SEA
The Meeting recalled Commission resolution 2007-2 entitled “Resolution on Safety at Sea and Protection of the Environment” as well as resolution 2006-2 entitled “Resolution on the Safety of Vessels engaged in Whaling and Whale Research-related Activities”, both of which had been adopted by consensus by the Commission. It noted reports of dangerous actions by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the Southern Ocean in recent months directed against Japanese vessels.
It called upon the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to refrain from dangerous actions that jeopardise safety at sea, and on vessels and crews concerned to exercise restraint. The meeting reiterated that the Commission and its Contracting Governments do not condone and in fact condemn any actions that are a risk to human life and property in relation to the activities of vessels at sea. It urged Contracting Governments to take actions, in accordance with relevant rules of international law and respective national laws and regulations, to cooperate to prevent and suppress actions that risk human life and property at sea and with respect to alleged offenders. The Meeting recalled that accreditation for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as an observer to the Commission had been denied since 1987 because of unacceptable behaviour and tactics.
0
Altria
Don't see anything written there that would make them stop SS heading back out.
I think this piece of lip service is more indicitive of the Australian view - they're more than happy to keep their hands clean and let SS do the dirty work for them.
0
motytrah
Oh my, Western countries don't give a hoot about Japans protests relating to whaling. The best they could hope for is a little lip service.
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davidattokyo
Well the IWC "urged Contracting Governments to take actions, in accordance with relevant rules of international law and respective national laws and regulations, to cooperate to prevent and suppress actions that risk human life and property at sea and with respect to alleged offenders", e.g. Sea Shepherd.
They've already given them once chance this year, SS clearly went beyond the limit of "protest" (at Watson himself is at pains to point out that he does not consider his operation to be a "protest"), and if they let them in and let them out again, well, "Australia shuuryou". They will be even more Japanese people than before making jokes about Australia and its lawless blood lines.
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davidattokyo
Japan's protest is related to the dangerous activities of a ship on the high seas. Whaling is a separate issue.
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Altria
Maybe a few rightwing blowhards on the jinternet - the rest will keep booking their holidays to the Gold Coast and investing in Aussie dollars as usual!
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majimeaussie
They will be even more Japanese people than before making jokes about Australia and its lawless blood lines.
Not as many jokes as the Aussies make about this themselves.
Davidattokyo - the agreement refers to laws and regulations. Until (if?) SS is found guilty of having broken these laws and regulations they are innocent and will not be stopped from using the ports by the Australians.
0
JapanHusker
Perhaps the whaling issue wouldn't be so bad if Japan actually ADMITTED to why they are going out instead of putting up this grand facade that everyone sees through, and then regulating the entire lot to keep the ocean's stocks up.
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Zenpun
JapanHusker
More whaling will increase more marine reserves.Japan is a victim of negative publicity, unbalanced & unfair treatments from posters. Japan was discovered by whalers if they were not whaling, they will not disover Japan. One Ainu native(non japanese) from Hokkaido told me about that.
0
dontpanic
"More whaling will increase more marine reserves.Japan is a victim of negative publicity" Pretty poor logic here. Japan would be happy to sweep the seas clear of marine life, either by itself or by paying others. In conservation terms Japan has been measured and found wanting. As for Japan being a victim of negative publicity, Japan has been hoist by its own petard.
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davidattokyo
JapanHusker, Japan's programmes produce heaps of data that is used in studies by Japanese and non-Japanese scientists alike. Just because you don't know or don't care to find out these facts does not mean there is a "grand facade". You're just lazy or ignorant.
0
cleo
And the data from Japanese experiments on 'maruta' during the war were put to good use in developing the frozen food industry. So that's all right then.
0
cow76
'Heaps' of data? I think they've proved that there are a few thousand less whales than there were before they harpooned them but other than that, nothing useful at all. Perhaps you could give us a single example. davidattokyo?
0
Aussieooo
davidattokyo,
I find it rather amusing that you quote IWC resolutions, whilst condemming Sea Shepherd for there valient efforts to save a small part of the worlds heritage from the "theives of the ocean" Japan.
Your posts show you have no knowledge of the law, and little knowledge of the reasons the International ban of commercial whaling was implimented in the first place. The ban was imposed, because whaling nations at the time, including Japan continually IGNORED quotas and the zero take of endangered species and as whales became hard to find....they killed any specied they came across...systematicly almost bringing the whale population to extinction.
After the ban, most nations abided by the zero whaling, but not Japan. You speak of the so called and internationally known scam of "whaling for science". When asked to produce the "science" from 20 years of whaling IN A WHALE SANTUARY", during an international ban on whaling...Japan produced a few hundred pieces of paper. All were looked at by INDEPENDANT scientists, and of all the papers....only 5 single papers had been peer reviewed, all the other had NOT been peer reviewed, and were shown to have little or NO revelance to the management of whales. The IWC's scientists, have reproached japan several times in respect to their"science" whaling, and have found very few facts in their"science" relating to the management of whales.
If Japan werent out there, cruely slaughtering whales and dolphins... for no other reason than as a smokescreen for there MASS plunders of EVERYTHING else in the ocean, Sea Shepherd would not tbe there. Japan are the aggressors here,and I feel after 20 years of diplomatic nicitis, which have not gotten us anywhere....they are justified!
Japan are the agressors and the pirates, they are stealing mine and your heritage as any pirates would be. SHAME on you ....
0
Aussieooo
David Tokio...
Google what happens to the health of the oceans if top end predators are sysematicly harvested.
Goggle how many whales and dolphins were in existance, before the mass commercial hunt which nearly wiped them out completely, look at the best estimates NOT JAPANS ESTIMATES, choose independant information, and see how many are around now, then try to tell me the numbers have increased.
Tell the good folks here that only less than 1% japanese folks eat whale, most goes to pet food. Tell them how many MILLIONS your government spends subsidizing the whale and dolphin kills using tax payers money...to prop up an industry that could not profit without tax payers money.
But lastly google how if japan has its way, and gains a return to commercial whaling, how many other nations will jump on the band wagon, eager to catch whales and dolphins to sell to japan. History will show you HUGE whaling fleets in the middle of the ocean, have no quotas, nor any consequences for the balance or extinction of any species. History shows profit will be the motivator out on the oceans....and who will see!
0
Aussieooo
david Tokoyo,
You call the folks here lazy and ignorant, I ask you to show here the links to the "heaps of data" of japans science on thousands of dead whales, over the past 20 years. We will not accept Japans papers unless they meet the world requirement of being peer reviewed to enable legitamacy.
It takes a little longer to find the correct information, but we will also only accept INDEPENDANT proof, by proffessional means from people who have nothing to gain by there scrutiny and subsequent report, i think this is only fair due to your comment above, dont you! Also show us which parts of your research require LETHAL means, and what you need to learn from this method. Also show us what you have learned about whales (peer reviewed), from lethal means, that could not have been gained from non0lethal means is tissue sample, blood test.
Lazy, ignorant....we shall see!
0
Aussieooo
Show me the peer reviwed information and what has been learned of whales from thousands of dead whales over 20 years...(independant info please), also what you have learned from lethal means that could not have been gained from non lethal means?
0
OssanAmerica
If people can get bent out of shape because they feel that Japan's "reasearch" is a farce, then certainly the above statement from tyhe Australian Govt while permitting the SS vessel to enter Austrailan ports is equally a farce.
0
dontpanic
Same old stuff regurgitated by the pro whalers whining because Sea Shepherd doesnt listen to their bleating and now witness the whalers desperate claims of terrorism fall on the deaf ears of governments not keen to defend the indefensible.
0
YuriOtani
Japan is not correct in this issue. The whale hunts need to stop. The hunting of dolphins needs to stop. This issue makes me wonder if the Russians are correct about Japanese fishing into their waters and taking more than their quota. Could the aggressive tactics of the Whaling fleet be part of an overall pattern?
0
Athletes
Aussieooo
There is an international whaling association has issued the quota for whaling limit. If the member nation exceed the quota, that nation has to pay fine. You do not realized that whales are fighitng each other too. Some species population decreased because of the temperature, losing territory & polluted water. For increasing the off springs of this species we need their genetic samples & fertile eggs. Even we can extend their life expentancy with genetically modified whale sperms.
Scientific research is sustaining and expanding the marine reserves. Better than blue fin commercial whaling from Aussie.
0
Athletes
Aussieooo
There is an international whaling association has issued the quota for whaling limit. If the member nation exceed the quota, that nation has to pay fine. You do not realized that whales are fighitng each other too. Some species population decreased because of the temperature, losing territory & polluted water. For increasing the off springs of this species we need their genetic samples & fertile eggs. Even we can extend their life expentancy with genetically modified whale sperms.
Scientific research is sustaining and expanding the marine reserves.
0
Scrote
If Japan is so concerned about the safety of its whalers it should confine them to waters around Japan. The bumbling fools have already lost two lives in the Antarctic due to their own incompetence.
0
cleo
Athletes -
The IWC for commercial whaling is 0. Japan sets its own quotas for 'scientific research' whaling. I don't see the point in your keeping repeating that 'whales are fighting each other'. Whether they are or are not is totally irrelevant to the question of whether it's OK for Japanese giant death ships to sail down to the Antarctic and kill hundreds of whales slowly and painfully.
You seriously imagine some crackpot scientist is trying to make test-tube whales?
Japanese 'scientific research' whaling, if we accept it as such which it obviously isn't, is all about how many whales can be killed for the table without depleting stocks, not about expanding marine reserves. If you have any evidence to the contrary, let's see it.
0
davidattokyo
Aussieooo,
Your explanation for the moratorium (not "ban") is off the mark. Go read the IWC homepage if you really care about the history.
There is more than a single "whale population"...
Go read Article VIII of the ICRW.
Which scientists were these? If they are those Australia scientists with anti-whaling biases that I know of then they are hardly "INDEPENDANT"
Even Australian estimates show various whale populations are recovering strongly.
Numbers have increased. Even Australian scientists will confirm this.
Hopefully they join the same international whaling regime as Japan, Norway and Iceland etc.
All the VPA (virtual population anaylsis) studies of Antarctic minke whales based on catch-at-age data for example, which the IWC SC considers important for interpreting trends in Antarctic minke whale abundance, was obtained by lethal methods. There is no similar data set available that is produced by non-lethal methods, and I think the reason for that is because non-lethal methods aren't up to the task - at least today in 2009.
Scrote,
You should see the nets they've set up on their boats to keep pirates off.
0
Aussieooo
David Tokoyo, Again, I ask you to stop with the japanese ICR propanagnda, and take an unbiased good look at the history of whale populations....ALL SPECIES, as japan has also targeted humpback and fin whales in their so called science.
and again...I am still waiting for you to back up your theory that Japans "science", killing thousands of whales over 20 years in a whale santuary 2000 miles from Japans own waters has in fact produced any more than a couple of PEER reviewed papers, pertaing to the management of whales??????? http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1657789.htm
Japans refuses to recoginise an area set aside for the whales to breed without being harpooned for commercial purposes :(whale santuary).
Japan also has many disputed territories rich in fish resources (because they have fished out there own waters). How would you feel in Australia and other nations, sent huge fishing fleets into japans disputed territories and fished for "scientific" purposes of course.
Would japan react in the same manner Australia and NZ have, with tolerance"?????
Or would we see japans navy being deployed?
Japan is the largest consumer of the worlds ocean resources, and you are destroying the heritage of our childrens future . It has to stop. or there will be nothing left for ANYBODY, including japan.
0
Aussieooo
David Tokoyo,
Ok, seems as you are quite stuck in your propaganda (without proof), lets look at the facts.
Japan has killed over 7,000 whales in the past 20 years, since a moritorium on the ban of commercial whaling came into place, under a "scientific whaling" loophole.
Japans Joji Morishita, has admitted "The Japanese make no bones about it – their research is toward that longed for day when commercial whaling is resumed. "
Indepent scientists, including one who is an advocate for harvesting wildlife, were asked to look through, and evaluate the huge pile of papers recieved from Japans 20 years of science whaling.
After srutiny,from that whole pile of papers we’ve got a total of one, two, three, four papers that can be said to be peer reviewed, that have some relevance to developing or managing a whaling industry and also would require lethal sampling of whales to get that information. Just four papers.
The only information that can not be obtained by NON LETHAL measures is the AGE of the whale, all the other information is readily available through non lethal means, ie tissue sampling etc!
But the important point is that within the IWC, you don’t need that age data. To establish a catch limit for whaling you need information about population structure, abundance and prior whaling history. You don’t need age data.
So Japan has cruelly slaughtered 7,000 whales for what....to find out how old they were when they KILLED em? HELLO.....now there dead!
Athletes,
Show me how Japan is sustaining anything but there own insatiable greed for anything from the ocean.
The science is a scam and you know it, might we now be able to look past that...and seek the REAL reason Japan is driving the market, and subsidising with tax payers money an industry which is uneconomically sound and less than 1 % of japanese eat whale anymore, so there is VERY minimal demand????
Is japan using the international uproar of slaughtering whales and dolphins to create an elaborate and expensive smokescreen around there illegal and mass over catches of tuna and other ocean resources, as some ex japanese fisheries ministers have suggested?
0
Aussieooo
Maybe Some Japanese citizens here could enlighten me as to why Japan's government continues to kill whales in a whale santuary, 2000 miles from home? Why do they not just whale in japans own waters.
There continued request for ADDITIONAL small type coastal whaling in japans own waters at the IWC, would be granted...if Japan ceased taking whales from the southern ocean.
Would japan be happy to just whale in there own waters?
0
OssanAmerica
I'm not a Japanese citizen but I think you ought to consider that whales are migratory and pelagic. They don't stay in one place, they roam all over the oceans. This is the same with the global fishing industries, not just Japan mind you, who fish all over the world and not just off their own coasts. Secondly, the issue of calling the subject waters a "Sanctuary" begs the question of who is calling it that, and whether such party has any actual jurisdiction over the area. Or is it simply a claim that isn't recognized by anyone else? In other words, why hasn't Australia evicted the whaling fleet from these waters? That would be the obvious and simplest solution, and that's what nations generally do when foreign fleets engage in fisheries activity inside an EEZ or otherwise clearly defined area of jurisdiction.
0
Aussieooo
Japan is the only nation killing whales, outside of its own waters and in a LEGALly santioned whale santuary. The reason the Australian government will not evict the whalers, is the fear of harming trade agreements with japan, which is morally tragic, but not unusual in the world of politics, they turn a blind eye to Japan, but enforce consequences on other nations fishing illegally in the same waters.
And your right,"""that whales are migratory and pelagic. They don't stay in one place, they roam all over the oceans.****
Whales are a universal heritage, they belong to NO ONE, and one nation does not have the right to kill endangered whales (yes endangered , they are also targeting the endangered FIN whales again this year)during a moritorium on whaling, in a whale santuary in disputed waters EEZ claimed by Australia and NZ.
Google what Japan does does to those nations fishing in there disputed territories?
There is good reason japan is killing whales, they are not finding a cure for cancer in fact they have produced almost zero peer reviewed legitimate scientific data in the last 20 years, they are not feeding the poor, in fact only 1% of the population eats whale and those are the old and wealthy, they have no culture/tradtion of whaling in huge factory fleets 2000 miles from home, no one would have a problem with there true culture.. One or 2 whales taken per year from a few small small coastal villages to feed their families.
There is NO REASON to brutally slaughter 1000 + whales per year... Other nations earn billions per year from whale watching, including small poor nations heavily reliant on whale sightings to feed their families.
What gives japan the right to jeopadize this industry, in favour of a whale killing industry that the could not exist without the MILLIONS of japanese tax payers dollars injected into whaling to keep it afloat. Tax payers dollars, most tax payers in japan dont even know about.
Why....
They are using the whaling as a smokescreen for the blatent scraping the oceans of everything else that moves including tuna. While where looking the other way...were not seeing!
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