Environmentalists pursue Japan's whalers

[GomiGirl]

I guess I was too stupid to figure out when it became cool hate on anti-poachers.

I think both sides are just as stoopid.

The anti-poachers are mostly ratbags trying to get publicity for their rebellious ways and doing anything except getting a "real job". These were the Student Union "leaders" (rich white lazy kids) from uni who were finally kicked out of their part time arts degree after 15 years of hanging around the refectory and not going to lectures as they were not interested in graduating and just wanted to be professional activists and would swing from protest to protest depending on the "cause" du jour. Most people grew out of dreadlocks, weed and tie-dye when they graduated, but these guys are holding onto their glorious youth. If this sounds snobby so be it. But there are plenty of better ways to get action to stop the poaching but they do not involve riding an inflatable zodiac up against a whaling ship and unlikely to get their scruffy, hairy mugs on the evening news which is the main motivation anyway - the protesting is just a sideline.

The poachers are just stubborn fucks who have been brain washed by their bosses to believe they are preserving the Japanese culture and that whaling is their birthright. To be fair, the Japanese whaling industry survived and was sustainable for a very very long time and it was the whaling industry (ie the west) who fucked it all up and nearly drove most of the species to extinction. But come on - hardly anybody eats it anymore and it can not be economical viable so why they continue with this pissing contest is beyond me.

The sneaky thing is that Japan has donated so much money for public works - buildings, roads, bridges - in tiny Pacific Island countries (such a PNG, Fiji and Vanuatu) in exchange for votes in the International Whaling Commission to allow the loop hole to continue. Without the support of these tiny countries, it just wouldn't be possible but most of these places are tax havens and so have no public money and rely on Japan to build roads and bridges. It is a political minefield. If the activists were serious, they would raise the money to buy the votes back from these countries and the loop-hole would close and boom, no more whaling. But again, this is not as exciting as being on an inflatable zodiac up against a harpoon on a whaling ship on the 7 o'clock news.

[matsuki]

The poachers are just stubborn fucks who have been brain washed by their bosses to believe they are preserving the Japanese culture and that whaling is their birthright. To be fair, the Japanese whaling industry survived and was sustainable for a very very long time and it was the whaling industry (ie the west) who fucked it all up and nearly drove most of the species to extinction. But come on - hardly anybody eats it anymore and it can not be economical viable so why they continue with this pissing contest is beyond me.

Public funding for this "research" means another large pool to skim off of. It's not Japanese culture or tradition anymore than "researching" dogmeat is. Japan would be better off without it but like so many things here, those in power aren't going a to put a stop to it because they benefit from all the leaches latched on to the scam.

The sneaky thing is that Japan has donated so much money for public works - buildings, roads, bridges - in tiny Pacific Island countries (such a PNG, Fiji and Vanuatu) in exchange for votes in the International Whaling Commission to allow the loop hole to continue. Without the support of these tiny countries, it just wouldn't be possible but most of these places are tax havens and so have no public money and rely on Japan to build roads and bridges. It is a political minefield. If the activists were serious, they would raise the money to buy the votes back from these countries and the loop-hole would close and boom, no more whaling. But again, this is not as exciting as being on an inflatable zodiac up against a harpoon on a whaling ship on the 7 o'clock news.

THIS

[legion]

But again, this is not as exciting as being on an inflatable zodiac up against a harpoon on a whaling ship on the 7 o'clock news.

and this

[Mike Oxlong]

New Zealand summons Japanese ambassador over whaling dispute

New Zealand on Monday called in Tokyo’s ambassador to protest about a Japanese whaling ship entering its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), escalating a diplomatic row over the incident.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully said officials summoned Japanese ambassador Yasuaki Nogawa to express “deep disappointment” at the incursion last Friday.

The complaint to Japan’s ambassador comes after the South Pacific nation, one of the strongest critics of Tokyo’s whaling program, had already hauled in the embassy’s deputy head of mission for a tongue-lashing.

“Today’s meeting with the ambassador served to further reiterate how deeply disrespectful the vessel’s entry into our EEZ was,” McCully said in a statement.

“New Zealand’s strong opposition to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean is well known and further action may be taken,” he added.

The incident occurred last Friday, when the whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 entered the EEZ as it was pursuing the protest vessel Steve Irwin, operated by the environmental group Sea Shepherd.

The foreign ministry said the ship did not enter New Zealand’s territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles from the coast, but did breach its EEZ, which covers from 12 to 200 nautical miles offshore.

While the vessel was legally entitled to sail in the EEZ, the ministry said it had been made clear to Japanese officials before it entered the waters Friday that it was not welcome.

In a statement released late Sunday, it called the decision to ignore New Zealand’s wishes “unhelpful, disrespectful and short-sighted”.

High-seas confrontations are common between Sea Shepherd’s protest ships and the Japanese, who hunt whales under a “scientific research” loophole in the moratorium on whaling.

In 2010 a collision involving the Shonan Maru 2 resulted in the sinking of Sea Shepherd’s speedboat Ady Gil.

New Zealand’s foreign ministry said that the ship “traveled for some distance inside the (EEZ) zone, but stayed well clear of New Zealand territorial waters”. It did not say how long it was in the EEZ.

Earlier Monday, McCully said he was yet to clarify whether the incursion occurred with the blessing of the Japanese foreign ministry or was merely the fisheries agency “flexing its muscles ... without proper regard for the foreign policy consequences”.

It was “deeply annoying” regardless, McCully said.

The Japanese embassy in Wellington refused to comment on the issue

http://www.japantoday.com/category/poli ... ng-dispute

[matsuki]

The incident occurred last Friday, when the whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 entered the EEZ as it was pursuing the protest vessel Steve Irwin, operated by the environmental group Sea Shepherd.

Who is chasing who?

[Wage Slave]

The incident occurred last Friday, when the whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 entered the EEZ as it was pursuing the protest vessel Steve Irwin, operated by the environmental group Sea Shepherd.

Who is chasing who?

Not that I have much time for Sea Shepherd but

The captain of the Shonan Maru 2 has form. There isn't much doubt that he deliberately ran over the Ady Gil regardless of the fact someone could easily have been killed. I wouldn't be at all surprised if had launched an attack on the Steve Irwin.

[matsuki]

The incident occurred last Friday, when the whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 entered the EEZ as it was pursuing the protest vessel Steve Irwin, operated by the environmental group Sea Shepherd.

Who is chasing who?

Not that I have much time for Sea Shepherd but

The captain of the Shonan Maru 2 has form. There isn't much doubt that he deliberately ran over the Ady Gil regardless of the fact someone could easily have been killed. I wouldn't be at all surprised if had launched an attack on the Steve Irwin.

Ahahahaha, nice. Torpedoes in 3-2-....

[wagyl]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if had launched an attack on the Steve Irwin.

It is not the first time Steve Irwin has been chased by something with a weaponised barb.

[Takechanpoo]

anti-whalers brain is pre modern.
there is no reason to obey that ridiculous religious demand.
hey you damn gomigirl, read Harriet Ritvo's book
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php? ... 0674037076

we japanese never stop hunting whales. its ours

[Takechanpoo]

another introduction
http://luna.pos.to/whale/

[Yokohammer]

we japanese never stop hunting whales. its ours

You're welcome to all the whales you like as long as you catch them in your own waters.

Whaling in the southern ocean is wasteful, damaging to international relations, and nothing more than a scam to skim public tax money and secure "amakudari" posts.

[matsuki]

we japanese never stop hunting whales. its ours

You're welcome to all the whales you like as long as you catch them in your own waters.

Whaling in the southern ocean is wasteful, damaging to international relations, and nothing more than a scam to skim public tax money and secure "amakudari" posts.

This

...and Take, besides sticking it to gaijin telling Japan what to do, what about whaling do you think is good for Japan?

[Mike Oxlong]

Collateral Damage -- Great Whale By-Catch Figures

The whale wars go on in the South Pacific, most recently dragging the government of New Zealand into a conflict that inflicts brutal costs on Japan's international reputation.

Meanwhile, without fanfare or activists with television contracts, a meaningless drowning of thousands of cetaceans is taking place in the fishing nets of every ocean-faring nation. Whatever the figure is, the numbers of cetaceans large and small being killed as collateral damage to the ocean's being strip mined of fish is many, many times the numbers killed by Japanese hunters (I cannot, for example, imagine any whale lasting for long in China's half of the East China Sea). Most of this killing goes on unreported, the remains being cut away and left to the ocean's scavengers.

We have some idea of the level of carnage taking place in the near waters of Japan because, unlike most countries, a dead whale in a net around here has market value. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries provides a thorough accounting of the sale of whales mistakenly killed -- precisely because they end up in the nation's food markets.

The number of great whales -- whales currently under an International Whaling Commission moratorium -- caught and processed due to accidents is surprisingly large:

Year / number of great whales landed and processed

2006 / 151
2007 / 158
2008 / 136
2009 / 122
2010 / 135
2011 / 126

Over 95% of the great whales accidentally caught and brought in for processing are Minke . Most of the remainder are Humpbacks, with only a rare drowned Eastern Gray, Fin or Pacific Right Whale making its way into the MAFF figures. Sperm Whales, which are toothed whales, are recorded as baleen whales -- the last recorded instance of one being one caught and processed coming in 2006.

The high percentage of Minke is almost certainly due to the huge population of Minke relative the populations of other great whales. Physical bulk also probably plays a part -- large whales like Fins being probably too big to tow into port.

Why are the by-catch figures significant?

Continues

[kurogane]

To any legal eagles out there:

would a non-profit organisation named Sea Shepherds' Conservation Society, dedicated to the defence and protection of the dedicated dolphin shepherds of Taiji and elsewhere, be liable to a copyright infringement challenge, or would grammatical niceties exempt it?

And yes, I'm sort of kidding, but still think it would be funny, if only because it would infuriate some FWFW douchebags.

[nikoneko]

UN court: Japan whaling 'not scientific'

The UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Japan's Antarctic whaling programme is not for scientific purposes.

Japan catches about 1,000 whales each year for what it calls scientific research.

Australia filed a case with the ICJ in May 2010, arguing that Japan's programme - under which it kills whales - is commercial whaling in disguise.

The court's decision is considered legally binding.

Japan had said earlier that it would abide by the court's ruling.

Reading out the judgement on Monday, Presiding Judge Peter Tomka ordered a temporary halt to the programme while it was revised

From here

Eat your bacon while you can boys!

[Coligny]

Meanwhile... In Fukus... UKRAINE...

[yanpa]

Meanwhile... In Fukus... UKRAINE...

...mutant whales discovered in the forests near Chernobyl...

[Coligny]

Meanwhile... In Fukus... UKRAINE...

...mutant whales discovered in the forests near Chernobyl...

That would sooo be the least of their worries...

image.jpg

image.jpg

image.jpg

image.jpg

/replace Chechnya with Ukraine kthxbye (easy to update memes to every new Russian conquest)

[Russell]

Disappointed Abe says Japan will abide by ruling on whaling

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he will abide by the court ruling that banned the nation’s controversial Antarctic whale hunt.

The conservative leader told Japan’s chief whaling negotiator that he would respect the judgement issued this week by the International Court of Justice.

“It is a pity and I am deeply disappointed,” Abe was quoted as saying by Japan’s chief negotiator Koji Tsuruoka during a meeting at his office.

“But I will follow the ruling,” Abe said, according to Tsuruoka, who spoke to reporters after meeting the premier.

Abe’s comment came after the United Nations’ Hague-based (ICJ) said Monday that Japan’s whaling program was a commercial activity disguised as science and said Tokyo must revoke existing whaling licenses.

More

I got the impression that the J-government wanted to get out of these tax-wasting activities, but they needed to find a face-saving way to do so without pissing off the fisheries communities. It has been clear for years now that this is not sustainable, because consumption of whale meat is only decreasing in Japan, there are huge costs involved in protecting the whaling fleet against activists, and the image of Japan is severely tainted by this fake scientific research program.

This court ruling has provided them with the perfect excuse.

BTW, latest news has it that Rakuten will ban the sale of whale and dolphin meat from its site by the end of this month "because of this whale ruling". I do not understand how that is related, but it seems there were some boycott activities in the making abroad...

[Coligny]

BTW, latest news has it that Rakuten will ban the sale of whale and dolphin meat from its site by the end of this month "because of this whale ruling". I do not understand how that is related, but it seems there were some boycott activities in the making abroad...

As long as they still carry Philippines ebola monkeys, shemales and underage prostitutes it's ok...

(Wtf was Rakuten selling these in the furst place ?)

[kurogane]

I got the impression that the J-government wanted to get out of these tax-wasting activities, but they needed to find a face-saving way to do so without pissing off the fisheries communities. It has been clear for years now that this is not sustainable, because consumption of whale meat is only decreasing in Japan, there are huge costs involved in protecting the whaling fleet against activists, and the image of Japan is severely tainted by this fake scientific research program.

This court ruling has provided them with the perfect excuse....

Double YUPPpppp, and Yea! to the end of the hunt and the cabinet's gracious acceptance of the ruling. I was getting very tired of the whale hugger Japan bashing, and given what a tax vacuum it is they probably wanted a face saving out, and they got it. Yea for everybody. Between this and the response to the Urawa Incident, some FG might need to stop despairing about Japan...... Mind, they'll probably now double down on the dolphin hunt for at least 3 years.

I think Rakuten's announcement is just a rather empty gesture to the inevitable end of supply, but well timed and probably quite a clever Busyness move.

Off topic, but is Rakuten any good for web shopping? I will need some camping gear, and they gots lots of that for cheep.

[Coligny]

AVOID RAKUTEN TRAVEL... But for normal stuff it's quite good. (It's just an agglomerate of web shops anyway, like amazon.co.jp)

[Wage Slave]

AVOID RAKUTEN TRAVEL... But for normal stuff it's quite good. (It's just an agglomerate of web shops anyway, like amazon.co.jp)

We used it to to find a cheap hotel in Kyoto recently so the travel section can be useful too. The only downside is that when it comes to payment and such you are dealing directly with the business and their ways of doing these things. So, you might well have to get their bank account details and send the money to their account at your cost. It isn't as seamless as Amazon, but the prices can be a bit lower - not by much though in our experience/

Not sure about returns. Japanese firms can be very very sticky about returns whereas Amazon is very straightforward.

[Coligny]

Renaissance riverside hotel Saigon through HIS, flawless.
Second time through Rakuten... Glitch at check in, Extended check out time was not registered (supposed to be free with her membership part of Marriot group), at check out they wanted to bill the full price not the price from the rakuten invoice which was a double bummer since me julie though it was already paid. Luckily we had the printout that we shown to the counter who called her japanese ...master(!?)... Who reluctantly lowered the bill but not to rakuten price since she included a late check out surcharge. Back here no way to complain or report the misshaps.

If you travel on a budget that can be a major bummer.

[Russell]

Anti-whaling ruling lets Japan save face

The international court ruling against Japanese whaling last week may have given the government a convenient political out.

The Antarctic program was nearly bankrupt, but if the government had overhauled it on its own, it would have incurred the wrath of a strong anti-whaling lobby, and could have been criticized for caving in to foreign anti-whaling activists. Now officials can say the court forced their hand.

“It seemed to me they were anxious to lose,” said Masayuki Komatsu, a former fisheries official known for his battles at the International Whaling Commission to defend Japanese hunts. He accused Japanese officials of losing “passion and love” for whaling and not fighting hard enough in court.

In a March 31 ruling, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Japan to stop granting permits for its Antarctic whaling program, which allowed an annual cull of about 1,000 whales. The world court, upholding arguments made by Australia, rejected Japan’s contention that the program was scientific in nature.

Though top Japanese officials called the ruling regrettable, they announced within hours that Japan would abide by it. A day later, the Fisheries Agency said Japan would skip the next Antarctic hunt.

“We didn’t go to court in order to lose,” a government official close to the case said on condition of anonymity, because he isn’t authorized to speak publicly about the issue. “But it was obvious that the whaling program had to be changed.”

In a way, the ruling was an example of “gaiatsu,” the external pressure Japan has traditionally relied on to bring about change when vested interests are strong. It was the arrival of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry and his warships that forced Japan to end a long period of isolation. More recently, gaiatsu has pushed the opening of Japan’s markets and the deregulation of its economy.

Many officials, even some in the fisheries circle, were long aware of the problems in the so-called research program. But few, if any, had incentive to fight the pro-whaling lobby: whalers, the whaling division of the Fisheries Agency, whaling-related businesses and powerful lawmakers. For them the ruling virtually takes care of what was long overdue, without anyone losing face.

“Unfortunately Japan cannot change its policies without gaiatsu, and (the ruling) definitely serves that role to finally bring about a change,” said Atsushi Ishii, an expert on international relations in science and technology at Tohoku University.

Officially, Japan still defends whaling as a cultural tradition, and says the “research” hunts were collecting data to prove commercial hunting could be resumed sustainably. Japan’s coastal whaling dates back to the 12th century, though its Antarctic expeditions began only in the 1930s.

The research hunts started in 1987 following an international moratorium on commercial whaling. The whale meat is sold at home to finance the program, but sales have fallen because the meat has become less popular, forcing sharp increases in government subsidies to keep the program afloat.

An initial subsidy of about ¥500 million ($5 million) a year, or about 10 percent of its costs, grew to about ¥900 million ($9 million) in 2007, and is projected to exceed ¥5 billion ($50 million) for this fiscal year. That includes costs related to Sea Shepherd, the activist group that tries to impede the hunt, including the dispatch of a patrol ship to guard the fleet and repairing damage from high-seas collisions.

The Sea Shepherd protests have curtailed the catch and put Japan in a negative light internationally by focusing attention on the hunt. The Japanese fleet returned home Saturday at the end of the 2013-14 season with what may be its last Antarctic harvest: 251 minke whales, or just a quarter of its quota.

The ruling technically leaves the door open for Japan to try to design a new hunt that would qualify as scientific, but any new program would face intense scrutiny. And it will only get more expensive: The program’s aging mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, will soon be retired and need to be replaced.

Officials generally agree that the most likely scenario is for Japan to withdraw from the Antarctic.

Japan’s whaling operations can continue off its own coast, as well as in the north Pacific, where it culls about 300 minke whales annually through a separate research program. But that program could be questioned when Japan goes to the International Whaling Commission, the main body that regulates whaling, for annual renewal.

Some hardline lawmakers say Japan should quit the commission and return to commercial whaling. But most officials and experts say such a drastic step would undermine Japan’s efforts to promote the international rule of law, notably when it comes to territorial disputes with China and South Korea.

Perhaps as importantly, questions remain about whether commercial whaling would be economically sustainable, given the declining appetite for whale meat in Japan.

Link

[Russell]

Still some different opinions around...

Japanese whaling group says it intends to resume hunts

The group that conducts Japan’s whaling says it expects to resume scientific whaling in the Antarctic after this year’s hunt was cancelled following an order by an international court.

Last month’s judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered a halt to Japan’s decades-old program of “scientific whaling” in the Southern Ocean, a practice environmentalists condemn, but Tokyo said it would abide by the decision and has cancelled the 2014-2015 hunt.

But court papers filed in the United States by the Institute for Cetacean Research, which, with Kyodo Senpaku, actually carries out the whaling, said they expect to conduct hunts in future seasons - albeit with a modified program.

In the filing in a Seattle court last week, the two groups sought an injunction against Sea Shepherd, an environmental group that has pursued Japan’s whaling ships during their Antarctic hunts over the past few years. They noted that the Japanese government had not granted permits for the next season.

“Plaintiffs expect they will be conducting a Southern Ocean research program for subsequent seasons that would be in accord with the ICJ decision,” they added, according to the papers, which were obtained by Reuters.

An Institute spokesman declined to comment, citing the court case and adding that any decisions about whether it would resume whaling would be made by the government.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday reiterated that the government has yet to make a decision but it may not take much longer.

“At the moment we are carefully analyzing the content of the ruling,” Suga told a news conference. “After analyzing what the issues are, the government will come up with a policy course.”

More...

And...

Diet members dine on whale meat in defiance of ICJ ruling

Lawmakers across party lines Tuesday held an annual whale-meat cuisine event to celebrate the country’s whaling culture in defiance of the International Court of Justice’s decision at the end of March to ban Japan’s whale hunt off Antarctica.

“Japan’s whaling is based on scientific reasons, while counterarguments by anti-whaling groups are emotional, saying they are against the hunts because whales are cute or smart,” said Shunichi Suzuki, a Lower House lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Suzuki, who heads an LDP whaling advocacy group, officially petitioned Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to allow the hunts to continue despite the ICJ ruling.

[...]

“I don’t understand why only Japan’s whaling is attacked. What about Australians eating kangaroos or Koreans eating dogs?” said a woman in her late 40s, who said her elementary school used to serve whale meat for lunch.

More...

Yeah, they should shut down Australia's scientific roo and Korea's scientific dog hunting programs too.

Life is so unfair...

[GomiGirl]

All those terrible Australians going into other countries to satisfy their bloodlust for kangaroo meat... oh wait.

Honestly, what sort of logic filters are missing when a journalist prints such dumb quotes that hurt the point they are trying to make.

[IparryU]

All those terrible Australians going into other countries to satisfy their bloodlust for kangaroo meat... oh wait.

Honestly, what sort of logic filters are missing when a journalist prints such dumb quotes that hurt the point they are trying to make.

What about Vietnam? They see a dog on the street and think lunch... like when French see frogs... coligney...

[Yokohammer]

“Japan’s whaling is based on scientific reasons, while counterarguments by anti-whaling groups are emotional, saying they are against the hunts because whales are cute or smart,” said Shunichi Suzuki, a Lower House lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Thus proving that lower house lawmakers are neither cute nor smart.

Holy freakin' wow ... I mean, just wow. How unbelievably immature an short-sighted. Lawmakers? I would have thought someone so erudite as a lawmaker might actually take the time to check facts before opening their mouths.

"... because whales are cute or smart ..." oh fer fuck's sake ...

[wagyl]

To be realistic about the statements of parliamentarians, you must understand that they are made to appeal to the voting public. I don't see what thay has to do with facts. It is a sad state of affairs, but I am a realist. Also, a depressingly large proportion of the reasons stated by activists against the whale hunt is that whales are cute (or at least have a special status as mammals), or that whales have intelligence. That, too is a sad state of affairs.

By biggest issue is the

Japan’s whaling is based on scientific reasons

bit. This is pretty much harpooned into the minds of the public here, and it takes a bit of explaining before people come around to see that you don't need to kill, for example, ants, to study them scientifically, and the same goes for whales. If I am honest, I think I have a bigger issue with the dishonesty about the rationale behind the hunt, a dishonesty begun to get around a decision for a moratorium by a body which Japan is a member of, a decision made despite Japan trying to butter up voter nations with aid offers: I have a bigger issue with that dishonesty than I do with the hunt itself.