Should International whaling Stop?

[b:7d478fce5b]Japan angry at Carter whaling comment
12 January 2006
By MARTIN KAY[/b:7d478fce5b]

Japan has accused Conservation Minister Chris Carter of being misleading about its whaling programme as New Zealand prepares to step up diplomatic pressure over a hunt in the Southern Ocean.


Hideki Moronuki, deputy director of Japan's Far Seas Fisheries Division, claimed last night that Mr Carter had issued deliberately misleading information about the hunt, which Japan says is for research ? but New Zealand insists is a thinly disguised commercial venture.

"It's quite unfortunate, and very, very misleading, and in some sense his information is dangerous for the management of whale resources in the Antarctic Ocean," Mr Moronuki said.

But Mr Carter hit back, saying the outburst was a sign Japan was feeling the heat to stop the hunt after dramatic pictures of whales being slaughtered and violent clashes with Greenpeace and the more militant group Sea Shepherd flashed around the world.

New Zealand says Japan's justification for the hunt on scientific grounds has no merit, and has been rejected by the International Whaling Commission.

Mr Carter also revealed that New Zealand was helping organise an international protest to the Japanese Government, expected to be delivered next week.

New Zealand was heavily involved in the drafting of a joint rebuke with Australia, South Africa, Britain, the United States and other strongly anti-whaling nations, a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the drama on the high seas around Antarctica showed no sign of abating as a New Zealand man on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza accused the captain of the Japanese mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, of recklessness.

Phil Lloyd is one of two New Zealanders on the ship supporting the Greenpeace flagship Arctic Sunrise, which collided with the Nisshin Maru on Sunday. Each side blames the other for the incident, but Mr Lloyd said it was caused by aggressive action by the Nisshin Maru's captain.

"The guy's a loose cannon. There's no way he should be operating a ship on the high seas, from what we've seen.

"There's very little regard for the humane killing of whales or for Greenpeace and their crews."

But Japan's Cetacean Research Institute accused Greenpeace yesterday of editing a video of the collision to make it look as if the Nisshin Maru was to blame, and insisted its ship had been deliberately rammed by the Sunrise.

Institute director-general Hiroshi Hatanaka said the Japanese fleet had a video of the incident which backed his claims.

Mr Lloyd said Greenpeace inflatables put to sea again yesterday as whaling resumed after the Japanese tried to shake off the protesters by racing west across the Southern Ocean.

Greenpeace feared further dangerous clashes, he said. "You could feel the tension and apprehension this morning when we launched the boat. People are nervous to go back out in front of the harpoons because the tension levels have been raised."

The Antarctic game of cat-and-mouse has attracted world attention and Green Party calls, rejected by Defence Minister Phil Goff, for New Zealand to send a frigate to protect the protesters.

Complex issue. My gut reaction is to vote "yes" to a ban, but do not claim to know all about the subject. I do wish that whaling nations like Japan and Norway would voluntarily stop whaling, and also quit making what appear to be flimsy excuses for whaling.

In a similar vein, I wish there were more limitations on human-made oceanic noise, such as sonar. This is apparently a major cause of whale beachings & deaths therefrom. Come to think of it, I wish there were more limits on human-made noise in my environment!

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes YES!!!!!

WOW!! That makes the hard and dangerous work by Greenpeace Worth IT!!

pulsarblu

Whaling should be banned as there is no need for it in this day and age.In the local museum here in Dundee they have on display harpoons etc. that they used when Dundee was a whalihg port and looking at them you can only imagin how barbaric whaling was/is.

Japan says it's for research (which apparently everyone knows is a veiled excuse).

Regardless, research or not.....what do they want with whales? Is it possible to catch a ton of them presently (without someone noticing) to make a product out them?

(This isn't a rhetorical question, I'm really curious)

The countrys that do whaling (japan norway etc.) usualy end up selling and eating the products.How this is research i dont know.

As with all of these things, there would be no supply without demand. You have to change a whole nation before you can stop a company with a profit to maintain.

Thats why elephants are still killed for ivory, etc etc. Greenpeace and the likes need to focus their energy elsewhere. No good corporation bashing when its your average Joe that demands the product.

It's like Microsoft and Windows, people hate Microsoft and want them banned, but consumers still lap up their products and keep them strong.

History tells us that humans never give up what they want until there's nothing left. It's similar to fossil fuels. It's harmful to the environment, they will run out soon and blah blah blah, but demand for oil and gas have never been higher.

There's only so many people in the world who care about the world around them, and the rest are just plain selfish. While selfishness is profitable, so the cycle of destruction will continue. Whats more saddening than all of it is that it's our children and their children and so on who will suffer the most.

Kiwis say the best business comes from word of mouth. Well how about this, recommend to everyone you know not to buy these products, and get them to do the same. Everyone in the world knows eachother indirectly, so everyone will hear it in the end.

Remember, there's no business without profit, and no profit without purchase. That's the only way to shut those people down.

*Welshgirl now subtly removes Taffy's soap box* [smilie=punch.gif]

Pah!