Replies to post #97143 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

i thought Greenpeace had that situation under control... where is the Rainbow Warrior when you need it?

That is what they became famous for, and had the support of most everyone, but somewhere along the line they lost their way and moved into terrestrial stuff like fund raising for pseudo-environmental NIMBY stuff and meanwhile the whales started getting slaughtered again. (moving destruction to another part of the planet is not environmentalism, it is what, jingo-ism?)

Even teabaggers are probably for saving the whales. I hope Greenpeace gets back to doing what they were respected for.

[fuagf]

Nations blast S Korea 'scientific' whaling

Conservationist nations and environmental groups denounce
Seoul's move to resume hunting whales under research loophole.

Last Modified: 05 Jul 2012 08:29


Minke remains popular in the South Korea's Ulsan, which serves meat from whales caught "accidentally" [Greenpeace]

South Korea has said it will start whaling under a loophole in a global moratorium that allows scientific research, outraging conservationist nations by using the same tactic as Japan.

The country came under pressure Thursday from outraged governments and environmentalists to scrap plans to kill whales under a "scientific" research programme denounced as a sham.

At sometimes heated talks of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Panama on Wednesday, South Korea said it would announce later how many whales it would kill and when but insisted that it did not need foreign approval.

Kang Joon-Suk, South Korea's head envoy, said consumption of whale meat "dates back to historical times" in his country and that the minke whale population had recovered since a 1986 global moratorium went into effect.

"Legal whaling has been strictly banned and subject to strong punishments, though the 26 years have been painful and frustrating for the people who have been traditionally taking whales for food," he told the conference.

'No excuse'

Whale meat remains popular in the South Korean coastal town of Ulsan, which serves meat from whales "accidentally" caught in nets. Activists have voiced suspicion that whales are often killed deliberately under the guise of accidents.

Kang said South Korea would conduct whaling in its own waters - in contrast to Japan, which infuriates Australia and New Zealand by killing hundreds of whales a year under the guise of research in Antarctic waters.

"I'm very disappointed by this announcement by South Korea. We are completely opposed to whaling, there's no excuse for scientific whaling," said Julia Gillard, Australia's Prime Minister told reporters.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully said there was no need to harpoon whales to conduct effective research.

"[It] will have no more credibility than the so-called scientific programme conducted by Japan, which has long been recognised as commercial whaling in drag," he said.

New Zealand's commissioner, Gerard van Bohemen, charged that South Korea would also be putting whale populations at risk and said that Japan had not contributed to science after years of expeditions.

Unnecessary, reckless

South Korea's plan is "unnecessary and borders on the reckless. New Zealand is strongly opposed to Korea's proposal," he said.

"We were taken by surprise by this decision. Our office is being flooded by phone calls from campaigners abroad, including those in New Zealand, Britain and Australia," Greenpeace Korea marine campaigner Han Jeong-Hee said.

In a statement, Greenpeace described scientific whaling as "just thinly disguised commercial whaling".

"This is the 21st century, and it has been proven time and time again that we don't need to kill whales to study them," it said.

Anti-whaling activists regularly harass Japanese vessels engaging in their annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean off Australia and Antarctica, with the two sides sometimes clashing violently. At least one activist boat has sunk in recent years.

Monaco's envoy Frederic Briand, a marine scientist and veteran conservationist, said that the Commission's allowance for scientific killing reflected research methods from when the body was set up in 1946.

"There is no doubt in my mind that scientists from Korea could well take advantage of the non-lethal techniques," he said.

'Moral preaching'

South Korean delegate Park Jeong-Seok voiced anger at the foreign criticism. He said that Seoul did not need to inform about its whaling but was doing so "in the spirit of trust, good faith and transparency".

[Tough .. might help if he saw it as tough love.]

"As a responsible member of the Commission, we do not accept any such categorical, absolute proposition that whales should not be killed or caught," he said.

"This is not a forum for moral debate, this is a forum for legal debate," Park said. "Such kind of moral preaching is not relevant or appropriate in this forum."

Under the Commission's rules, nations can conduct lethal research on whales, with the meat then going to consumption.

Norway and Iceland are the only nations that defy the moratorium entirely.

Iceland also used to describe its whaling as scientific but shifted its position in 2006 and said it was commercial in nature.

"We've submitted a proposal to the IWC's Scientific Committee to resume scientific whaling in our waters and will await the committee's assessment," said a Korean official at the Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.

"If it says it is not adequate in their assessment of the legitimacy of scientific research, we'll make further preparations."

South Korea carried out scientific whaling for one season after the 1986 moratorium went into effect.

Japan warned

A report at the time by the IWC's science committee said that South Korea killed 69 minke whales and provided "no information" of scientific use. Japan also submitted a proposal Wednesday to resume the hunt of minke whales off its coast, but did not seek a vote after strong opposition by anti-whaling nations.

"The IWC's commercial whaling moratorium has caused us and our communities great distress for a quarter of a century," Yoshiichi Shimomichi, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Commission, told the conference.

Donna Petrachenko, the Australian envoy, said that Japan's proposal, if approved, would mean "completely undermining the moratorium."

While not killing minke whales, Japan each year hunts thousands of other cetaceans unregulated by the International Whaling Commission off its coasts - most notoriously dolphins, which the western town of Taiji spears to death.

Russian delegate Valentin Ilyashenko voiced understanding for Japan's proposal as he explained his experience going for dinner in Panama, which has a strong US influence.

"Every visitor I see at restaurants asks for traditional Panamanian food, and as a rule they get a hamburger or pizza. I believe it's important to keep traditions and thus I support Japan's proposal," he said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/07/20127562817978770.html

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Aussie MPs slam South Korea whaling plans

Adam Gartrell, AAP Diplomatic Correspondent
July 5, 2012 - 4:34PM


Prime Minister Julia Gillard has condemned South Korea's plans to resume its whale slaughter and has instructed Australia's top diplomat in Seoul to lodge a protest.

South Korea announced the plan at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama on Thursday.

It intends allowing the hunting of minke whales in its coastal waters by exploiting the same legal loophole the Japanese use to conduct their controversial scientific whaling program.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Ms Gillard said she was very disappointed by South Korea's surprise move.

"We are completely opposed to whaling, there's no excuse for scientific whaling," she told reporters in Melbourne.

"I have instructed our ambassador in Korea to raise this matter today at the highest levels of the Korean government."

Ms Gillard said Ambassador Sam Gerovich would make clear Australia's opposition to the move.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key indicated his government would also complain to the Koreans.

"We think it would be a terrible step in the wrong direction," he told reporters during a visit to Sydney.

"That's not the right way that we think Korea should be going."

Mr Key warned the move could lead to a further unravelling of the IWC's whale protection system.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the coalition remained strongly opposed to whaling.

"We would respectfully say to the South Koreans, 'Don't do it,'" he told reporters on the NSW Central Coast.

The IWC imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 amid fears the ocean giants were headed for extinction.

Japan currently pursues whales under a loophole in IWC rules that allows hunting for scientific purposes, with the carcasses later used for food.

South Korean delegate to the IWC meeting, Kang Joon-Suk, said his government was considering resuming whaling because the minke population had recovered since the moratorium began.

Those minkes are now "eating away large amounts of fish stocks" that should be consumed by humans, he said.

Another South Korean delegate, Park Jeong-Seok, said his country would submit more detailed plans at a later date but stressed, "We are under no obligation to inform you in advance."

"As a responsible member of the commission, we do not accept any such categorical, absolute proposition that whales should not be killed or caught," he said.

South Korean fishermen have for some years on-sold whale meat accidentally caught in nets under the IWC's so-called "inadvertent by-catch" rule.

Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam called on the government to push back "very hard" over Korea's plans.

Environmentalists like International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) campaigner Matthew Collis also condemned Korea's decision.

"There is simply no humane way to kill a whale," Mr Collis said in a statement.

Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has vowed to harass South Korean whalers if the plan proceeds.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/aussie-mps-slam-south-korea-whaling-plans-20120705-21ib1.html

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South Korea says it may resume whaling, prompting outcry
By Paula Hancocks and Jethro Mullen, CNN
July 5, 2012 -- Updated 0623 GMT (1423 HKT)

[.. mostly repeat so bottom 3rd only ..]

The minke whales that would be the target of South Korea's proposed hunt are considered endangered by the whaling commission's Scientific Committee, WWF said in a statement.

But Seoul is suggesting that the number of minke whales in the north Pacific has "recovered considerably."

In his statement to the whaling commission, South Korea's Kang said that his country's "whaling history dates back to prehistoric times, and whale meat is still part of a culinary tradition of some of Korea's local areas such as Ulsan."

Before the international moratorium came into effect in 1986, Koreans were catching about 1,000 minke whales each year in the waters around the peninsula, he said.

But his claim that the whales were now making life difficult for fishermen failed to impress environmental groups.

"Blaming whales for declining fish populations is like blaming woodpeckers for deforestation," Greenpeace said
in a statement. "Whales do not cause declines in fishing stocks, over fishing and mismanagement by humans do."

CNN's K.J. Kwon contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/04/world/asia/south-korea-whaling/index.html?eref=edition

After that terrible news .. relax relief .. Woody!! .. off to the ol' ball game!
.. Dopes vs Drips .. at 4:36 see the toughest little worm you will ever see ..

.. nope, not Romney .. lol ..

[fuagf]

Sea Shepherd pursuing Japanese whaling fleet .. warning: bloody photo ..

38 minutes ago January 06, 2014 10:00AM



Play video Sea Shepherd films whale slaughter 1:02

Graphic footage of whales being butchered onboard the Nisshin Maru inside the Southern Whale Sanctuary. - Footage, Sea Shepherd.

Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd is pursuing the Japanese fleet after finding all five of its vessels in the Southern Ocean and evidence of whale kills.

The Sea Shepherd fleet, comprising the Steve Irwin, the Bob Barker and the Sam Simon, is now trailing the Japanese ships in a bid to disrupt or shut down their whale-killing operations.

The Steve Irwin's helicopter first spotted the Japanese vessel, Nisshin Maru, in New Zealand's sovereign waters in the Ross Dependency Antarctic region and inside the internationally recognised Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The Sea Shepherd group says it has footage of three dead protected minke whales on the deck of the Nisshin Maru, taken when the factory ship was first found.


Bloody business ... an image of the deck of a Japanese whaling boat. Source: Supplied

A fourth whale, also believed to be a minke, was being butchered on the deck.

The Sea Shepherd group says its fleet will do what it can to ensure no more whales suffer at the hands of the Japanese.

"Sea Shepherd will remain relentless in driving these fake, desperate and subverting 'scientists' back to Tokyo,'' the Steve Irwin's captain, Sid Chakravarty, said.

Last June, the New Zealand government joined the Australian government's challenge to the legality of Japan's whale hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary at the International Court of Justice.

A judgment in the case is yet to be delivered.

http://www.news.com.au/world/sea-shepherd-pursuing-japanese-whaling-fleet/story-fndir2ev-1226795648668

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World court hearings on Japanese whaling draw to an end

JIJI, Kyodo Jul 16, 2013

THE HAGUE – The world court on Tuesday concluded hearings on a case
brought by Australia to stop Japan’s research whaling in the Antarctic .

This is the first case at the International Court of Justice involving Japan as a litigant. The
Hague-based U.N. court is expected to hand down a ruling by the end of the year at the earliest.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/16/national/world-court-hearings-on-japanese-whaling-draw-to-an-end/#.UsnwmPvdDbo

The Abbott government in not getting between the harpoons and the whales to stop the whaling
is ignoring an Australian Federal Court injunction against the Japanese whale slaughter ..

Court rules against Japan's whale hunt
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 15/01/2008
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2139165.htm

[fuagf]

Abe: Japan to accept anti-whaling ruling


In this photo released by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Australia on Jan. 6, crew members aboard the Nisshin Maru factory ship wade through blood from four minke whales that were chopped up on the ship's deck Jan. 5 in the Antarctic Ocean. The International Court of Justice on Monday ordered a halt to Japan's Antarctic whaling program, ruling that it is not for scientific purposes. | AP

Reuters, Kyodo Apr 2, 2014

Japan will accept an international court ruling that its whaling program is not conducted for scientific purposes and that such activity should be stopped, a government official quoted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as saying Wednesday.

“It is extremely regrettable and disappointing, but Japan will abide by the ruling,” Abe reportedly said.

He made the remark in a meeting with Koji Tsuruoka, who represented the government in the case presented to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Tsuruoka told reporters afterward that he — as the leader of the Japanese delegation — had been “sternly reprimanded” by Abe over the outcome.

The ruling was made Monday in a case lodged by Australia that sought to end Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.

At a Liberal Democratic Party meeting on whaling, held Wednesday, an official of the Fisheries Agency said the body will give up its so-called research whaling program in the Antarctic Ocean for fiscal 2014, given the U.N. court’s decision.

With the court’s judgment, which is binding, Japan’s whalers will now be forced to re-examine their program.

Japan has long maintained that most whale species are in no danger of extinction and that scientific whaling is necessary to manage what it sees as a marine resource that, after World War II, was an important protein source for an impoverished nation.

But with its whaling fleet in need of refurbishing and consumer interest in whale meat low, observers have said the court ruling might provide the government with an opportunity to abandon an expensive program and improve its international standing.

Meanwhile, other experts said Japan could try to rescue its Antarctic whaling program by sharply reducing catch quotas and devising a new, more persuasive program that requires killing whales.

One of the most likely scenarios seems to be that Tokyo will submit a revamped research whaling program for approval by the International Whaling Commission.

“One thing Japan needs to do is make its scientific goals match the number of whales that it takes,” said Masayuki Komatsu, formerly Japan’s chief whaling negotiator.

“It’s actually OK to hunt even more whales. But what will happen is that the number of whales taken will decrease,” added Komatsu, now a visiting research professor at the International Center for the Study of East Asian Development.

More than half of IWC members oppose whaling — a situation that has led Japan to call the body “dysfunctional” — so obtaining approval for any new proposals could be tough, Japanese media said.

The U.N. tribunal said no further licenses should be issued for scientific whaling, in which animals are first examined for research purposes before the meat is sold.

“The research objectives must be sufficient to justify the lethal sampling,” said presiding Judge Peter Tomka of Slovakia.

Japan also conducts separate hunts in the Northern Pacific, while its fishermen engage in small-scale coastal whaling. An annual dolphin slaughter near the city of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, has also drawn harsh global criticism.

Japan signed a 1986 ban on whaling but has continued to hunt up to 850 minke whales in the Southern Ocean, as well as smaller numbers of fin and humpback whales, citing a 1946 treaty that permits killing the giant mammals for research.

But even though Abe himself hails from one of the nation’s key whaling regions, the ruling might not be entirely unwelcome in some parts of the government, said Jun Morikawa, a professor of Rakuno Gakuen University in Hokkaido, a specialist on whaling and politics in Japan.

“I have the impression that a lot of people in government may be relieved . . . It gives them a chance to stop, they can say that Japan fought hard but now needs to accept the result,” Morikawa said.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/02/national/abe-japan-to-accept-anti-whaling-ruling/#.Uz-Wq1cfuM8

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Whale of a Win for Sea Shepherd

Dr. Reese Halter Become a fan
Broadcaster, Conservation Biologist, Educator

The new moon of March 31, 2014 ushered in a long overdue win for the whales of the Great Southern Ocean and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

more .. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-reese-halter/whale-of-a-win-for-sea-sh_b_5087526.html

for Australia

[search list entry] Australia wins whaling case against Japan | SBS News

E-commerce giant halts whale meat sales
Japan e-commerce giant Rakuten has called a halt to the sale of whale meat by the end of the month following the ruling by the UN's top court.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/storystream/e-commerce-giant-halts-whale-meat-sales

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A qualified victory for whale conservation

The Canberra Times Date April 1, 2014 .. one bit ..

In the meantime, Japan will be free to continue its second, smaller whaling program in the north Pacific, while the commercial whaling programs of Norway and Iceland will be unaffected. There is also the not inconsequential matter of Japanese sentiment, which appears firmly that the consumption of whale meat is a culinary tradition dating back 2000 years and which will not be laid aside at the behest of foreign adjudicators. Indeed, only last year, Japan’s fisheries minister likened criticism of Japanese whaling to a form of cultural prejudice against Japan, and compared it with Australia’s consumption of kangaroo meat.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/ct-editorial/a-qualified-victory-for-whale-conservation-20140401-zqpff.html

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Will Japan find a way around anti-whaling ruling? .. VIDEO/transcript ..
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s3976329.htm