Australian Government siding with Japanese Illegal whaling

[earthangel]

Report from the Farley Mowat

December 30, 2006

Three ships continue to chase the Japanese whaling fleet along the coast of Antarctica
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza is the fastest vessel and is keeping on the tail of the Nisshin Maru.
The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise and the Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat are running flanking positions in an effort to spot the Japanese harpoon vessels which have been out of sight for days.
The conservation ships are sweeping the along the coast corridor with radar and helicopter reconnaissance flights with the objective of ferreting out the positions of the illegal harpoon vessels.
There is no question but that the Japanese fleet is on the run, speeding westward and there is no evidence of any whaling activity taking place since Christmas day.
"We have certainly made an impact down here against these pirate whalers," said Captain Paul Watson. "They are being harassed and they know they are being harassed."
Meanwhile Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell is accusing Sea Shepherd of endangering the factory ship Nisshin Maru on Christmas Day.
"The video clearly shows that it was the Farley Mowat that had the right of way and the Nisshin Maru attempted to ram our ship," said Captain Watson. "Despite the evidence, when the Japanese complain, Campbell goes running to appease Tokyo. Is there no limit to how low these politicians will go to kow tow to Japan over trade agreements?" He said.
Captain Watson has informed Ian Campbell that if he has charges against Sea Shepherd or himself, he will return to Australia to face whateever charges Australia can concoct.
"Stop threatening us and charge us if you believe we are acting unlawfully. Stop posing for the Japanese. Show us you have authority down here in these waters Mr. Campbell, charge us, and then explain how you have authority over me as a Canadian on a Canadian ship but not the Japanese who are in blatant violation of international conservation and Australian laws in Australian territorial waters?"
Sea Shepherd has officially requested the presence of an Australian Naval vessel to monitor the activities in the Southern Ocean.
Ian Campbell has refused to send a naval vessel on the grounds that Japan does not recognize the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The question must be asked : Does Australia claim the Australian Antarctic Territory or not? If not then the name should be taken off the maps and charts and the area surrendered to Japanese exploitation.

LETTER TO IAN CAMPBELL

To Senator Ian Campbell
Minister of the Environment for Australia

December 30, 2005

Dear Mr. Campbell,
Once again I am officially requesting that you send an Australian Naval vessel to the Southern Oceans to monitor the activities down in this area.
It appears that whenever the Japanese register a complaint you believe them. You need to have your own eyes and ears down here before you start threatening us with charges for crimes we have not committed.
"Stop threatening us and charge us if you believe we are acting unlawfully. Stop posing for the Japanese. Show us you have authority down here in these waters Mr. Campbell, charge us, and then explain how you have authority over me as a Canadian on a Canadian ship but not the Japanese who are in blatant violation of international conservation and Australian laws in Australian territorial waters?"
Are you ordering us out of the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory?
Are you saying that you have jurisdiction over me as a Canadian, my Canadian flagged ship or any of my international crew?
Are you accusing us of breaking or threatening to break any laws within the territory of Australia?
We would like to know where we stand with Australia concerning our activities in opposition to the illegal whaling operations of the Japanese whaling fleet.
We await your advice on these questions.

Sincerely


Captain Paul Watson
Master of the Farley Mowat
Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977)
Co-Founder of the Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
Co-Founder of Greenpeace International (1979)







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[isanatori]

Is that information or activism, from you, Earthangel ?

Paul Watson is a convicted terrorist. Sea Shepherd has been banned from attending IWC meetings as an observer.
When Watson says that he's ready to go to any Australian court that would charge him, he forgets to mention that he had been charged in Norway and didn't show up although he said he would. This guy is no more than a fanatic who cannot keep his word.

[Aussie_Chick]

Australians would prefer to see these whaling ships blown out of the water. And not before time.

[nurizeko]

I only hope the eco-pirates stray into japanese waters so the Japanese self defence naval forces can blow the buggers out of the seas.

Sorry, but quite honestly, you nut-job eco-fanatics have no positive role in conservation, like islamic terrorists and other evilos like hitler, your just using it as an excuse to be rogues and thugs outside the law.


If australia did send a naval ship it would be to board and arrest the eco-loons. And if you bothered to pay attention, the australian antertic territory, along with every other antertic territory has been frozen by a UN treaty decades ago, the continent is officially no-mans land for the pupouses of scientific study and investigation.

As such Australia doesnt have any claim to antartica or territorial waters around it, until such a time as this treaty that was made is revoked, which seems unlikely for the forseeable future.

In lamen terms, International waters, lol, not asutralian jurisdiction.

[Dudley]

Originally Posted by isanatori

Is that information or activism, from you, Earthangel ?
Paul Watson is a convicted terrorist. Sea Shepherd has been banned from attending IWC meetings as an observer.
When Watson says that he's ready to go to any Australian court that would charge him, he forgets to mention that he had been charged in Norway and didn't show up although he said he would. This guy is no more than a fanatic who cannot keep his word.

Um, where, when and what was Paul Watson convicted for ?

[sanji]

Originally Posted by Dudley

Um, where, when and what was Paul Watson convicted for ?

It takes just a couple of seconds to find abondant references on the criminal charges:

Watson was arrested in 1993 in Canada on charges stemming from actions against Cuban and Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Newfoundland. In 1997, Watson was convicted in absentia by Norway on charges of sinking the small scale Norwegian fishing vessel Nybrænna in 1992, but Dutch authorities refused to hand him over to Norwegian authorities although he did spend at least 60 days in detention in the Netherlands before being released.
source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Watson

You can also read this abstract : http://www.highnorth.no/library/move...d/pa-wa-to.htm
sanji

[Toni]

Originally Posted by nurizeko

I only hope the eco-pirates stray into japanese waters so the Japanese self defence naval forces can blow the buggers out of the seas.
Sorry, but quite honestly, you nut-job eco-fanatics have no positive role in conservation, like islamic terrorists and other evilos like hitler, your just using it as an excuse to be rogues and thugs outside the law.
If australia did send a naval ship it would be to board and arrest the eco-loons. And if you bothered to pay attention, the australian antertic territory, along with every other antertic territory has been frozen by a UN treaty decades ago, the continent is officially no-mans land for the pupouses of scientific study and investigation.
As such Australia doesnt have any claim to antartica or territorial waters around it, until such a time as this treaty that was made is revoked, which seems unlikely for the forseeable future.
In lamen terms, International waters, lol, not asutralian jurisdiction.

Is it just me or if you care about the biodiversity of our waters then you get labeled "nut-job fanatics"? These people are doing the only thing they can do to stop ILLEGAL WHALING, and if your trying to tell me that it's being done for scientific research then you can try again because thats a load of collywobble! It comes down to what they're doing is illegal, New Zealand certainly doesn't fuel ships but Australia does and why? because of trade agreements. Now I understand the implications of messing up trade with Japan but is the alternative to allow whalers to kill whale populations till they're extinct? it comes down to being greedy and ignorant.

[Sarapva]

It sounds to me like Captain Paul Watson is doing a good job! Otherwise, why would governments get upset about what he's doing? I say thank God for people like Paul Watson who care enough about the planet to actually do something tangible to try to stop the killers and rapists of the sea.

[tokapi]

Japan & Australia are in a diplomatic honeymoon.Some younger generation Japanese are very fond of Australia nowadays and prefer to emigrate there.

[centrajapan]

Japan is NOT DOING ANY ILLEAGAL WHALING!! Thats like saying Australians are in Australia illeagaly and they should all go back to where they come from. Some stinking prison in Hull.

Australians are probably the most clueless on the topic of whaling. It seems like it is their religion to be against whaling and they don't back it up with facts but rather irrational sentiments.

Whaling is indeed eco friendly.
Whaling does not destroy the bio diversity of the habitat unlike beef, pork, sheep or any other domesticated animal.

Australia is leading the world in mammals gone extinct. Instead of telling what Japan should not eat stop killing kangaroos. How many kangaroo spiecies must you kill to extinction and do not vent your anger on Japan and other whalers.

Not 1 whale spiecies have ever been driven to extinction. How many kangaroo spieces have?
Whaling is a much more eco friendly form of meat production than beef.

If Australia is against whaling. Fine. Come with better arguments because all their arguments are too easy to rip apart.

Religion and science is like discussing apples and oranges. Let us discuss science.

Watson is labaled a terrorist by Greenpeace. This man is mad. The Inuits hate him too.

[centrajapan]

The more I read the title of this thread, I tell myself, why bother? But then it irks me a bit so I will now explain.

Japanese Illegal whaling... There is nothing illeagal about Japanese whaling. Do anti whaling fanatics just spew out lies and defend their stance by utter more crap? If you think whales are amazing animals and think they can talk with aliens and should be left alone. Fine. You can do that. If some people think whales is best on a plate then that is OK too. Japanese are not forcing Australians to eat whales. So Australians should not force Japan to stop eating whales. Paul Watson and other Australians are simple racists with very little tolerance to other cultures cusines. Not only are they racists but these Champions Of the Whales are trying to shove their habits and culture down people's throats. This is culture imperialism.

Japanese will eat whales thank you very much and you can eat your kangaroos.

The majority World View is pro sutainable hunt of a natural renewable resources. Australia too is pro sustainable hunt of a natural renweable resources except minke whales.

Japan has no goal to shoot every whale to extinction. It wants to take a small amount of whales from a non endangered stock in international waters. What is wrong about that? Besides Japan is not breaking even 1 international law or agreement. And they are not lying either.

[Rose Selavey]

Centrajapan,
You like accusing Australians of flying off the handle with no evidence and seem to do the same. Australia's ecosystem is very fragile, if only the Europeans realized this when they stepped on this land. The reasons some mammals are becoming extinct in Australia is not due to over culling/eating but from three main factors: loss of habitat (through clearing), feral pests (foxes, rabbits, and thousands of floral weeds) and disease. Some Australians are working to remedy this situation, but with climate change looming vulnerable species will be the first to become extinct as they have less chance of movement/population increases.

The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research has not given a peer reviewed paper on their so called scientific research on whales for over 2 decades, Australian scientist Dr Peter Harrison (a well respected, well published marine biologists) has challenged the Institute to a debate, they have not come to the party rather they have in a press statement suggested that Dr peter Harrison's research is wrong and lacking in thought and accuracy! Who is writing this stuff for the Japanese, give us some figures and research, please. The humpback whale population in the Southern hemisphere is on the slow incline, show me other figures and we might have a debate.

Eating meat is a personal issue, so why not put it out their that Japan is hasting dolphins and whales for meat, not for scientific research, if 'whales could scream the whaling industry would be finished' as quoted by a Japanese
Whaler.

[pipokun]

Really? How about obesity?
I do not think it is personal at all, but more cultural and public when I see super sized people in your country.

I highly appreciate all countries who export meat to Japan, but Japanese still eat less meat than your country.
http://www.fao.org/statistics/yearbo..._1/pdf/d06.pdf

Japan cosumes about 2 times more meat than your country, but she has much more population than yours.

[centrajapan]

Japan gives out reports each year on the Japanese Scientific Hunt which gets good feedback at the IWCs Scientific Committee. Japan can only hunt whales if it is through Scientific but Japan wants to hunt commercial.

[Rose Selavey]

Giving out reports at the IWC is totally different to a peer reviewed paper in the scientific community. This data, the majority of which comes from lethal research is often disregarded in further studies. It is consistently reported in IWC forums that this data will not be used when there is comparable data available from non-lethal research.

As to the obesity problem in Australia it is awful and everyone should take note, we eat too much food!

[Sarapva]

Obesity is also a big problem in the U.S.

[Kyoto Returnee]

Originally Posted by centrajapan

The more I read the title of this thread, I tell myself, why bother? But then it irks me a bit so I will now explain.

Japanese Illegal whaling... There is nothing illegal about Japanese whaling.

It's illegal in the eyes of many.

This is not a war "Australia against Japan", this is about protecting the whale that Australian, American, and NZ kids are taught to love.

We can't all be blamed for that.

Japan is not killing the whales to eat, it's killing them for scientific research.

I can't remember how many exactly, but I quote the latest news:

"a quota of 935 minke whales and, more controversially, 50 humpbacks and 50 fin whales, regarded respectively as threatened and endangered species."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/japan-put-on-notice-over-whale-hunt/2007/12/19/1197740380464.html


Do Norweigans eat Whales?
http://www.anglojapanese.com/

[Sarapva]

Thank you for those links, Kyoto. I signed the petition to end the dolphin slaughter. Here is another petition for ending the whale hunt in the Southern Oceans:

http://www.petitiononline.com/wsos1/petition.html

I don't know what it is about the Japanese and inflicting pain on living creatures. They seem to have no concept that their actions cause pain and suffering, or maybe they know but do it anyway? What happened to their empathy?

[centrajapan]

It's illegal in the eyes of many.

This is not a war "Australia against Japan", this is about protecting the whale that Australian, American, and NZ kids are taught to love.

We can't all be blamed for that.

Japan is not killing the whales to eat, it's killing them for scientific research.

I can't remember how many exactly, but I quote the latest news

It is LEAGAL: Just because you don't like something does not mean illeagal. If it was illeagal then why don't AUstralia take their case to an international court? They don't because they know they don't hav a case.

Nice piece of cultural racist imperialism here. You never hear Hindus pressuring AUstralians to stop eating beef. Australians and other anti whalers have some nerve to dictate others what is acceptable to eat and what isn't.

Norwegians eat whales too. I think whales are the most overrated animal on this planet. Australians don't know how to cook kangaroo meat so they should get some Chinese cook to fly in from Hong Kong so that he can prepare an eatable meal for the non cultured Aussies.

Focusing on not wiping mammals on home turf would be a much better contribution to saving the global environemtn. With no sense of irony these champions of the whales from shining Australia has made it their first priority to make people stop eating whales while they on their home turf kill millions of kangaroos each year because they are regarded as pests because they want to give more grass land for cows and sheep which btw is a far greater contributor to global warming than whaling and much less energy efficient.

[Astroboy]

Originally Posted by centrajapan

It is LEAGAL: Just because you don't like something does not mean illeagal. If it was illeagal then why don't AUstralia take their case to an international court? They don't because they know they don't hav a case.
Nice piece of cultural racist imperialism here. You never hear Hindus pressuring AUstralians to stop eating beef. Australians and other anti whalers have some nerve to dictate others what is acceptable to eat and what isn't.
Norwegians eat whales too. I think whales are the most overrated animal on this planet. Australians don't know how to cook kangaroo meat so they should get some Chinese cook to fly in from Hong Kong so that he can prepare an eatable meal for the non cultured Aussies.
Focusing on not wiping mammals on home turf would be a much better contribution to saving the global environemtn. With no sense of irony these champions of the whales from shining Australia has made it their first priority to make people stop eating whales while they on their home turf kill millions of kangaroos each year because they are regarded as pests because they want to give more grass land for cows and sheep which btw is a far greater contributor to global warming than whaling and much less energy efficient.

Well said.
It is legal and agreed at IWC. Please do not fabricate story.

[Kyoto Returnee]

Originally Posted by centrajapan

Nice piece of cultural racist imperialism here.

Norwegians eat whales too. I think whales are the most overrated animal on this planet. Australians don't know how to cook kangaroo meat so they should get some Chinese cook to fly in from Hong Kong so that he can prepare an eatable meal for the non cultured Aussies.

A Chinese cook from Hong Kong LOL..

[Kyoto Returnee]

Originally Posted by Sarapva

Thank you for those links, Kyoto. I signed the petition to end the dolphin slaughter. Here is another petition for ending the whale hunt in the Southern Oceans:

http://www.petitiononline.com/wsos1/petition.html

I don't know what it is about the Japanese and inflicting pain on living creatures. They seem to have no concept that their actions cause pain and suffering, or maybe they know but do it anyway? What happened to their empathy?

I totally agree Sarapva and I signed the petition

Not sure if you have sen the latest dolphin slaughter video, nor would I want anyone to see it but it certainly exposes the truth once and for all.

Rieko and I are actually coming back to Japan.

One of our issues is if we should bring Jiji our cat.

We've had her since a kitten and she is really part of the family. I've never been a cat person, had dogs since I was a kid, but that's another story.

Having said that, besides the expense of bringing Jiji back and the possible stress for her involved, my wife Rieko who is Japanese, keeps reminding me how cruel people in Japan can be to cats, although I keep telling her she doesn't need to remind me as I've seen it whilst I was living their..

People simply ignore them, and the whimpy guys try and scare them..

I used to see dogs tied up 24/7 on a short cord at the front of people's houses..

Most of them had some sort of mental problems.. Poor bloody things..

I will now start a new thread re: animal cruelty laws..
http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35033
I think Asia in general do not respect animal right's..

They eat dogs, civet cats, etc...

Enough for me...

[centrajapan]

You can bring your cat over. I know people who brought over cats from Europe. Japanese don't eat dogs or cats. But I don't think it is crueler to eat dogs than pigs. Its cultural preference.

Australia has live animal trade policy which means at times grusome living conditions. Imagine they are over packed on board of a boat from Australia to Middle East. Shipped thousands of miles only to get slaughtered.

http://www.animalliberation.com.au/issues/live_exp.html

[Kyoto Returnee]

Originally Posted by pipokun

Really? How about obesity?
I do not think it is personal at all, but more cultural and public when I see super sized people in your country.

Umm, Whaling in Japan?

[Kyoto Returnee]

Originally Posted by centrajapan

Australia has live animal trade policy which means at times grusome living conditions. Imagine they are over packed on board of a boat from Australia to Middle East. Shipped thousands of miles only to get slaughtered.

The live trade policy I would presume is so the meat is fresh once it arrives at it's destination.

Probably a good chance with you in Japan eating the Aussie reared cow at the local Yakiniku or Moss Burger joint.

Don't get me wrong here.. I definitely don't agree with any cruel treatment of animals..

Just for your reference and next post, I'm vegetarian