Japan's oft-criticized "scientific" whaling fleet will be extra busy this season as it aims to land up to 1,035 whales in what could be the country's largest whale hunt in modern times. Included in the toll: up to 50 humpback whales, the first time they've been targeted in some 40 years. Humpback whales numbered only about 1,200 in the 1960s, but the population has since increased to about 30,000 or 40,000 due largely to the international hunting ban. Environmentalists said of the whalers, "They're violent ... terrorists. Their violence is unforgivable ... We must fight against their hypocrisy and lies." No, wait. That was actually whale-hunt mission leader Hajime Ishikawa, talking about environmentalists. Greenpeace has vowed to try to disrupt the whale hunt, as has the more militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The whale hunt and the hunt for the whale hunters will both be conducted in the waters around Antarctica.
sources:
source: Associated Press, The Guardian, Agence France-Presse
see also, in Grist:Japanese, Norwegians, and Icelanders spout off in favor of whaling
EU pushes China further after pledge to slow carbon intensity
Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success
Comments
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GreyFlcn Posted 2:45 am
19 Nov 2007
It should be mandatory that it's put into a waste dump.
Kill off it's economic value, and you kill off the hunting.
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edarnold41 Posted 3:44 am
19 Nov 2007
So the answer is no ships, no new ships would be built, and the slaughter ends.
Anybody have a source for some Mark-48 homing torpedos? Just as a philosophical question, you understand...
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John former Marine Posted 4:10 am
19 Nov 2007
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caniscandida Posted 5:02 am
19 Nov 2007
<<
Families waved little flags emblazoned with smiling whales and the crew raised a toast with cans of beer, while a brass band played "Popeye the Sailor Man."
>>
"Popeye the Sailor Man" is of course NOT a traditional Japanese whaling shanty. And that great American hero, famous for the bold and uncompromising motto, "I yam what I yam," would instruct children to tell the truth, no matter how bitter, and would forcefully urge parents to tell the truth to their children.
And the relevant truth here is, whales do not smile when they are being killed with harpoons.
And we would all do well to remember that this week, making the appropriate re-application of Popeye's sage advice, when we behold all those countless images of smiling turkeys.
Grey Falcon, we are on the same wavelength, regarding what should be done with the whales' remains.
Trying to find something to be hopeful about, however, I also observed in the last "This week in ocean news" thread that not impossibly, by the very fact that the whalers are this time targeting humpback whales, which are internationally well-known and popular, they may provoke a much greater and more serious condemnation from all quarters than before.
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