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| US joins critics of Japan whaling | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 20 2007, 03:42 PM (63 Views) | |
| agate | Nov 20 2007, 03:42 PM Post #1 |
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The US has added its voice to international criticism of Japan's largest-ever whaling expedition. The UK, Australia and New Zealand have already urged Japan to call off this year's hunt, which will target humpback whales for the first time in decades. Japan says the hunt is for scientific purposes and that the number of whales to be killed is too small to have a major impact on populations. US officials say non-lethal techniques could achieve the same research goals. The Japanese whaling fleet set sail on its five-month mission from the southern port of Shimonoseki on Sunday. It has instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales. As well as up to 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales, it will kill up to 50 humpback whales for the first time since a moratorium was introduced in the mid-1960s. The species had been hunted almost to extinction before the ban. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7101829.stm |
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| agate | Nov 20 2007, 03:45 PM Post #2 |
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To kill 1000 in the name of research!!! This is unbelievable :NOOOOO: A big bouquet of thorns to the Japanese :budo: |
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| agate | Nov 20 2007, 03:48 PM Post #3 |
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from Greenpeace website.. Shimonoseki, Japan — The Japanese government whaling fleet has departed its home port of Shimonoseki, for its biggest hunt since the moratorium on commercial whaling came into being over twenty years ago. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/ne...s-depart-181107 web cam here http://www.greenpeace.org/international/ph...eos/live-webcam |
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| Kahu | Nov 20 2007, 08:18 PM Post #4 |
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We are very close to a declaration of war over whaling in OUR southern oceans! |
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| VickiNC | Nov 21 2007, 01:10 AM Post #5 |
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OMG, I can't believe they're going to hunt any whales, but especially the humpbacks. |
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| Deleted User | Nov 21 2007, 05:46 AM Post #6 |
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Deleted User
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:NOOOOO: :NOOOOO: :NOOOOO: |
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| agate | Dec 22 2007, 04:06 AM Post #7 |
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I was happy to read this, this am :Yes: Japan suspends humpback whale hunt Last Updated: Friday, December 21, 2007 | 6:51 AM ET The Associated Press Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, the country's top government spokesman said Friday. Japan decided to suspend humpback hunts at the request of the United States, which is chair of the International Whaling Commission, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. "The government has decided to suspend hunts of humpback whales while talks to normalize IWC is taking place," Machimura told reporters in Tokyo. "But there will no changes to our stance on our research whaling itself." "The U.S. asked Japan to freeze planned humpback hunts" for one to two years to support its effort as the chairman to normalize the IWC, Machimura said. Japan argues that the IWC has become a place for emotional fights rather than the setting for calm discussion, and has called for "normalizing" reforms that would return it to that function. Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, the country's top government spokesman said Friday. Japan decided to suspend humpback hunts at the request of the United States, which is chair of the International Whaling Commission, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. "The government has decided to suspend hunts of humpback whales while talks to normalize IWC is taking place," Machimura told reporters in Tokyo. "But there will no changes to our stance on our research whaling itself." "The U.S. asked Japan to freeze planned humpback hunts" for one to two years to support its effort as the chairman to normalize the IWC, Machimura said. Japan argues that the IWC has become a place for emotional fights rather than the setting for calm discussion, and has called for "normalizing" reforms that would return it to that function. Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism. Continue Article Commercial hunts of humpbacks have been banned worldwide since 1966. Earlier Friday, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told reporters he hoped to discuss the whale hunt and related issues with his Australian counterpart soon. "Given that in a sense this seems to be a problem of differences in national sentiment between Japanese and Australian culture, it's not a matter that can be solved by appealing to one another through logic," Komura told reporters. Australia announced this week it was launching a new push to stop Japan's annual whale hunt, including sending surveillance planes and a ship to gather evidence for a possible international legal challenge. On Wednesday, Thomas Schieffer, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said a deal may have been struck to suspend Japan's plans to hunt 50 humpback whales in Antarctic waters. 'Good news indeed' The mission also aims to take as many as 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales in what Japan's Fisheries Agency says is its largest-ever scientific whale hunt. Critics say the program is a shield for Japan to keep its whaling industry alive until it can overturn a 1986 ban on commercial whaling. Karli Thomas, who is leading a Greenpeace expedition heading to the southern Pacific, lauded the development. "This is good news indeed, but it must be the first step towards ending all whaling in the Southern Ocean, not just one species for one season," Thomas said in a statement from on board the group's ship, Esperanza. |
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| Kahu | Dec 26 2007, 11:00 AM Post #8 |
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'Don't let the whalers take our fish' By NATHAN BEAUMONT - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 26 December 2007 Maori leader Peter Love is demanding the Government strip all fishing quota rights awarded to Japanese companies in New Zealand waters, in protest at the whale hunt in the Southern Ocean. The Wellington Tenths Trust managing trustee went on the offensive yesterday, declaring the Japanese Government was now at war with New Zealand's environmental opinions. He went further, suggesting the whale hunt had ignited bitter memories of the Japanese Army's cruelty in the South Pacific during World War II and that its whaling policy was culturally offensive to Maori. Mr Love, who also plans to ask the respective governments in the Pacific Islands to review its fishing quotas for Japan, intends to use the might of the iwi to push his case. "We have constant access to the Government through our iwi. We can, and will, make demands because our iwi gives us solidarity to make a stand, rather than doing it on an individual basis. "The Government will listen to us. We want to hit the Japanese in the pocket because that will get them to sit up and take notice." New Zealand controls the fourth largest fishing zone in the world and its total commercial catch and aquaculture production is about 650,000 tonnes per year, most of which is exported around the world. Only New Zealanders or New Zealand-owned companies can own fishing quotas in this country. Quota holders can lease them, however, to foreign ships to catch their allowance on their behalf. In a bow to mounting international pressure, Japan took the humpback off its hunting list late last week, but it still plans to kill about 935 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales. Mr Love was "over the moon" the humpback had been saved, but wanted Japan to abandon its entire operation. The whaling ships, which will kill the whales using explosive harpoons, were no different to an armed warship, he said. "This is not what I would call fishing off the back of a boat. They are using explosive charges to kill whales. It is an armed attack which invokes memories from World War II when we were under threat of an attack from Japan from the sea. "Here we are again under attack from Japan, again from the sea. This time not only are they attacking us personally, but also a species we want to protect." The Japanese did not understand how upset New Zealanders were about this issue, and the only way the message could be highlighted was by threatening to take away the country's fishing quota, he said. "They are virtually doing the hunt right in front of our faces. I might as well be standing there on the ship watching the harpoons kill the whales." Mr Love has first-hand experience of working with Japanese. He helped set up a New Zealand office for the massive Japanese trading company Mitsui. But he fears Japan's ongoing whale hunt is destroying the company's reputation in the South Pacific. By last night more than 7200 people had signed The Dominion Post's anti-whaling petition. |
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2:02 PM Jul 11