Just a week ago I mentioned the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's pirate vessel, Farley Mowat, intended to interfere (read: ram) with Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic.Although Australia's Environment Minister Ian Campbell has condemned Sea Shepherd's tactics as "foolhardy" he is showing a degree of solidarity by banning Japanese whaling vessels from taking port in Australia.
Japan Whaling Association president Keiichi Nakajima accused Sea Shepherd of eco-terrorism while the Japanese ships operate under a scientific permit from the International Whaling Commission to hunt over 900 minke whales and 10 fin whales. Critics point out this is nothing more than a ruse to take the whales commercially.
The IWC web site provides population counts of whale species by geographic region however the information is years out of date. Minke whales were last counted in 1989 at more than 1 million; today's count is listed as "The Commission is unable to to provide reliable estimates at the present time. A major review is underway by the Scientific Committee."
Likewise, the fin whale was last counted in 2001 with a population around 39,000. According to Wikipedia the IWC classifies the fin whale as Endangered although a IWA page about Iceland's scientific permit clarifies the classification of "endangered" originates from the IUCN. In short, why would they permit hunting an endangered species?
I'm really looking forward to reviewing the research papers from Japan and Iceland. That is the point, right?
This whole business of whaling for scientific purposes during a moratorium on hunting raises more questions than answers. Anyone knowledgeable in this topic care to comment?
1. This is an illegal blockade against Japan, it is pure racism! It is what the US did to start WW2! Denying Japan her culture and natural resources. they are trying to starve us to death!
There are no Japanese against whaling. We are taught in school that all Japanese support this. Any who do not are not part of our society. They are apostates, unable to find work, unable to fit into society.
http://3kun.wordpress.com/
And now you have a bounty on our people! A bounty for where our fishermen go. This is pure racism. A price on the heads of Japanese, to find their ships and take away our food, our tradition, our culture. A bounty on the Japanese! When will it end? They want to hunt down the Japanese, hunt them down as if they were defenseless animals. The peaceloving people of Japan cannot stand for this much longer.
Posted at 11:38AM on Feb 2nd 2007 by 3kun