Aussies send armed vessel after Japanese Whalers

WooHoo!

A politician is finally proving almost as crazy as me when it comes to fantasy solutions to real problems...

Canberra to monitor Japan whalers

Australia will send an armed patrol ship and aircraft to monitor Japan's whaling fleet off Antarctica

news.bbc.co.uk...

pull quote:

Acting against the whalers was one of the new Labor-led Australian government's election pledges.

"We are dealing here with the slaughter of whales, not scientific research," Mr Smith told a news conference in Canberra.

All righty then! You know, ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall I've fantasised about buying some ex-Soviet diesel sub and blowing the front end off a few Japanese whalers trespassing in "my" Southern Ocean.

The (brand) new Australian government is making headlines all over the environmental issue, first Kyoto, now this. I guess having the former lead singer of Oils in charge of the portfolio means your team automatically knows how to make big statements...

After Sea Shepherds antics the last couple of years and Japan's determination to lift the ban (Cambodia voted for them at the last meeting), it seems the Aussie left is finally sick of Japan hunting down and slaughtering one of its major tourism resources.

Personally, I reckon the whale-watching industry in Australia should be putting together an international lawsuit against Japan. I shudder to think of how much it would cost, though.

1) The whaling done by Japan is sanctioned by the IWC, and perfectly legal. Like it or not, that`s the fact. Argue it until you`re blue in the face, but at the end of the day, it`s legal.

2) As long as the Japanese boats stay out of waters recognized by international treaty as being Australian, the Aussie ships have absolutely no right to do anything more than watch.

That`s all.

sadly, thast true.
The legal loop hole of ' scientific research ' means they can murder these amazing creatures then eat them for desert.

Sick @#$)@# people..

While Our warship will surely cause a few harsh words in parliament... its not as if we can fire on the japanese vessels..

but maybe get in the way?
What happens when a harpoon strikes our ship..

Lets be honest, nations arent going to go to war over this, and economies , as the past shows.... trump the environment.

Id like to know how many IWC officials are treated to expensive hotels, dinners and women by the japanese.

I always considered the Japanese to be an 'ET' type race.
There brains, there appereance..

Killing whales for food, proves they arent human.

[edit on 19-12-2007 by Agit8dChop]

I watched a live news conference on this today. The environment minister categorically stated that the assets we are going to deploy are for surveillance only. He stressed this point upwards of a dozen times, and proceeded to explain how the weapons aboard the customs vessel they are going to use are to be locked below decks before the mission begins.
Pussyfoot around the issue? Not be tough as nails? No! The Aussie government is also going to lodge a diplomatic protest! Gasp!!

I support radical groups such as Sea Shepherd, who have sunk about 10 whaling ships so far by ramming them.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


Actually, the UK and Iceland nearly went to war over cod...

news.bbc.co.uk...

en.wikipedia.org...

I've seen video of the RN frigates and Iceland OPVs (much smaller) actually touching rails during all of this and not gently...

As for the post about the legality of the whaling, I never said it wasn't. I've known about "scientific whaling" since I was a kid, doesn't make it right and there is much the Aussies can do.

As I said, the whale-watching industry should be looking at a lawsuit against Japan based on the damage being done to livelihoods. Japan claims their whaling is "cultural", not in the bloody Southern Ocean it isn't.

The Australians customs vessel can observe and record and it can defend other ships maintaining their right to the sea. What it can also do is remain at sea longer, recording in greater detail what the Japanese are actually doing. Recordings that will prove so handy in the PR game. As I said, Japan bought off Cambodia last year, as well as a bunch of Africans and Caribbean islanders who've never been at IWC meetings before...

I wonder if the Sea Shepherd won't try to engineer a situation where the customs vessel will have little choice but to force a confrontation with the whalers?...

Somehow we have to research a way to arm the whales so they can defend themselves….


No seriously I hope that some groups in Japan can start educating the people on how beautiful and intelligent whales are and that they are not the most numerous of creatures on our planet at the moment.

So if you could please whale eaters of the world…. Try eating a little more tuna hey?

I think we should start hunting japanese for scientific research.
Find out just how such a greedy race can exist in a human form.

There's scarce whales left, yet they have a 'allowable' quotta.

There's millions upon millions of japanese... so I say, lets ratio the quota accordingly

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
I watched a live news conference on this today. The environment minister categorically stated that the assets we are going to deploy are for surveillance only. He stressed this point upwards of a dozen times, and proceeded to explain how the weapons aboard the customs vessel they are going to use are to be locked below decks before the mission begins.
Pussyfoot around the issue? Not be tough as nails? No! The Aussie government is also going to lodge a diplomatic protest!

Gasp!!

I support radical groups such as Sea Shepherd, who have sunk about 10 whaling ships so far by ramming them.

If what Australia is doing is about observation, why not do what other countries have done and use their rights as an IWC member to have a representative on the research vessels themselves?

Non-Japanese have been on board various vessels in the fleet every year - IIRC it`s a stipulation of the research whaling agreement.

Why would the Australia government opt for a costly media-friendly batch of sabre-rattling over an observer right they are entitled to, that costs nothing?

I personally don't agree with whaling, but I also think the majority of objections people have against it are hypocritical. Many people oppose whaling because whales are "beautiful" or "intelligent" or have some other abstract value that means they should be protected from hunting.

There is no hard scientific evidence to support an extinction threat to many whale species. If you oppose whaling then I hope you are a vegan and carry your convictions through to all other living things and only eat lettuce leaves.

I think the next time I hear somebody tell me how disgusting it is that some countries kill whales, while they tuck into a steak or hamburger, I'll reach across and punch them in the nose.

If a particular species of whale is endangered, it should not be hunted. If there are a lot of a particular species available then go right ahead. It's no different to eating kangaroo, emu, venison and other wild animals. Last time I was out on my kayak there were heaps of dolphins about - they sure look tasty to me.

what gets me angry is that they continue to blatantly lie that it is for scientific research... give me a break!

Originally posted by Snappahead
I think the next time I hear somebody tell me how disgusting it is that some countries kill whales, while they tuck into a steak or hamburger, I'll reach across and punch them in the nose.

Then let me stick out my not inconsiderable honker. Because the beef, pork and lamb I eat is shot in the head. Once. And dies instantly.

Ever seen video of a Japanese whale hunt? There is nothing instantaneous about that death. I don't eat caviar either.

Your view reeks of ignorance pretending to be "all things equal for all things". All things are not equal in this debate. Whales do not die instantly. They are not even necessarily dead before the processing begins.

If a particular species of whale is endangered, it should not be hunted. If there are a lot of a particular species available then go right ahead. It's no different to eating kangaroo, emu, venison and other wild animals.

Except that kangaroo are in plague proportions and their numbers need to be lowered for environmental reasons...

Last time I was out on my kayak there were heaps of dolphins about - they sure look tasty to me.

Pity we're talking about whales, which are only slightly larger and an entirely different species. I mean, hey, my sister saw lots of quokkas on Rot Nest island, if roos are such a problem, why don't we hunt quokkas?

I find this act by Australia to be aggressive and reprehensible. They dont own the waters in an around Antarctica. Their maritime boundaries are clearly demarcated. If the Japanese choose to carry out whaling in International waters they have every right to do so as Australian ships have to sail on them. The US Navy should send a destroyer to provide protection to these Japanese whalers as apparently other than Sea Shepard and other environmental fundamentalists the Australian government has resorted to intimidation and coercion.

I think Japan itself should send in some of its JDF ships to provide protection and to ward off any threats by Australian naval ships. In case Sea Shepard and the like try to ram the Whalers again their ship should be sunk and the survivors arrested, tried and prosecuted for piracy.

You are misinformed. The Australian ship is protecting our own waters not international waters. The aussie public does not want whales taken from our own waters The ships weapons are not armed and are stowed below deck. Japan stated they are not concerned with our surveillance as that is what it is. Do you really think we would fire on our own ally? America at the present is in negotiation with the Japanese government which I read today are on the verge of vetoing the humpback killing.

reply to post by HowlrunnerIV


So HowlrunnerIV, is your conviction that if whales could be killed in a humane manner, you wouldn't object to them being killed? I think if you spent an afternoon in a slaughterhouse your opinion about the humanity behind the slaughter of most domestic animals will change. Its a misnomer that these animal are shot in the head - its too expensive - these days the most common way of slaughtering animals is electrocution followed by cutting their jugular and bleeding them to death. Halal and kosher slaughtering is even more brutal with no electrocution prior to the animals throat being cut.

I eat meat and fish myself and am happy to face the realities involved in how this is made possible. Slaughtering and eating animals is a brutal business. The way it is done doesn't really make a difference in my opinion - you taking a life to sustain your own. You can't have your cake and eat it too - if you object to one animal being killed and eaten and not another, then there is not other name for you other than hypocrite.

IAF101, you need to take a deep breath and chill out mate. Australia is not sending naval ships to monitor the whaling, they are sending a customs vessel. The Japanese themselves have said they have no problem with this. Its about gathering evidence for a possible law suit involving CITES regulations.

I do agree that Sea Shepherd should be treated as pirates if they interfere with other vessels on the high seas. Their moral objections do not give them carte blanche to damage property and put lives at risk.

reply to post by Snappahead


Kosher is actually more brutal than Halal, in my opinion.

And country-killed meat is shot in the head. (Not that I always get that, not that I am always in Australia, let alone the bush...) Plus, the only abattoir I've ever actually been in used bolt guns. To, you know, shoot the animals in the head.

IAF, did you even read the linked article? That didn't say anything about naval vessels firing on Japanese whalers...

And should the JSDF Navy send armed ships to the Southern Ocean they will be breaking the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which makes the region a Demilitarised Zone.

As for putting observers on the factory ships themselves...if you own the ship, you control the video...

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV
As for putting observers on the factory ships themselves...if you own the ship, you control the video...

This is not necessarily the case.

The whaling program is very closely monitored by the IWC - and if you want to take a look at the global scale, you will not find ANY natural resource based activity as closely scrutinized, with the possible exception of uranium mining.

AS IWC members, Australia can ask to join the team of IWC observers which has been present on every single hunt since the beginning of the scientific whaling program - the same group which routinely presents it`s findings at the IWC annual meetings. The precedent is sound, and the reporting of the observers has been transparent thusfar.

Why not do it?

Probably for the same reason that Australia, NZ, the USA et al. refused to switch to a secret ballot at IWC meetings - a move tabled by Japan to counter the allegations of vote-buying: you`re afraid the result might not be what you want it to be.

The issue of whaling in Australia provides a nice handly feel good bit of patriotic flag waving - you can keep the nasty Japs out of "your" ocean, and protect the whales for your tourists to enjoy. You can mask racisim and shades of neo-colonialisim in enviro-love... and all it takes to see it is a quick look through the comments section on any Aussie news site to see how thin that mask really is.

reply to post by vox2442


Wrong.

White people whale, too. We're against them, too. But they are doing it in the northern hemisphere, much closer to their own waters. The Japanese sail over half-way down the world to do their hunting. Within range of us. That's why we focus on them.

Plus, Norway doesn't hunt whales for "scientific purposes".

Being anti-whaling is not racism. If we were anti-Japanese we wouldn't be importing their cars. Or motorbikes. Or fridges. Or mobile phones. Or selling them our iron ore.

Well it is a regulated hunt that is much better then the days of no-limit and not a problem as far as I'm concerned...So Hurry up and get the Whales to market already...