Kill those dang pesty whales

[Taro Toporific]

Japan urges whale 'pest' cull
RAMPANT whales are devastating Japan's fisheries and should be culled as pests, the official in charge of the country's controversial whaling program said ...

Jammin' with the whales
This isn't your typical jam session. It's one between a man, Jim Nollman, and a group of beluga whales.
"....whales can understand music. I can really make them play the blues with me"

[cstaylor]

If they are really pests, let the Japanese hunt them, but they aren't allowed to bring the meat into harbor for sale.

That'd make them change their tune...

[Taro Toporific]

[jingai]

RAMPANT whales are devastating Japan's fisheries and should be culled as pests, the official in charge of the country's controversial whaling program said ...

Just replace whales with people for a more realistic statement! Fisherman sashimi anyone?

[kamome]

Whaling Update

Japan suffers from an image problem.

[kamome]

Did the Japanese government ban the release of Star Trek IV?

Maybe they should, out of respect for good taste. I think that movie reference should go under your "worst movie of all time" thread.

[Taro Toporific]

[Big Booger]

goodbye whale meat.. dolphin steaks...

I feel for the poor tuna... no on gives a rats ass about it..


I say free the tuna, stop slaughtering the tuna!

[Captain Japan]

Japan's criminal whaling industry bribing countries for IWC votes
Cyber Diver News Network

TOKYO, Japan (4 Dec 2004) -- The only whales seen in Nicaragua are the ones that wash up occasionally on the Pacific beaches. The country has no whaling fleet, no tradition of whaling and certainly no market for whale blubber.

Yet that didn't stop the impoverished Central American country from joining the International Whaling Commission (news - web sites) last year, just in time to attend the commission's annual session in Sorrento, Italy, where it voted with Japan for measures promoting more whale hunting.

"Why Nicaragua? Well, why Switzerland? Why Mongolia? Those countries are members, and some don't even have oceans," said Miguel Marenco, Nicaragua's new whaling commissioner. "As a fishing nation, we are very much interested in the management of marine species."

Environmentalists believe there may be another reason for Nicaragua's sudden interest in whales: millions of dollars worth of Japanese aid, delivered in sake-sipping ceremonies and used to pay for roads, schools and other desperate needs.

[Captain Japan]

Japan pushes for doubling of whale kill
Guardian

Japan is likely to provoke the biggest diplomatic clash over whale hunting for years today when it proposes doubling the number it is allowed to kill for "scientific research".

Japanese officials refused to discuss details ahead of the opening today of a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Ulsan, South Korea. But opponents say Tokyo wants to double its annual kill of minke whales to 800, and to kill 50 humpback and 50 fin whales, the first time it has hunted the two species since its research programme began in 1987.

The IWC's 57 members are split. Opponents concede that it may take only several years for Japan and its allies to secure the three-quarters of the votes they need to resume full commercial whaling. Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to leave if the IWC continues to block a resumption of even a limited form of commercial whaling.
Scientific hunts are permitted under IWC regulations. Critics say they amount to a resumption because 2,000 tons of meat from the culls is sold in restaurants and supermarkets, fetching an estimated £28.4m.

Trade in whale meat is not illegal: under IWC regulations countries may use the byproducts of scientific hunts as they see fit. In Japan, that means eating them. This week, the Australian prime minister, John Howard, said Australia would work with the US, New Zealand and Britain to persuade Japan to reconsider, although he did not support blocking Japanese whaling ships.

"There are other ways of trying to change what I regard as a very bad decision by the Japanese," he said in a radio interview....more...

[Captain Japan]

Japan targets threatened whales
Scotsman

JAPANESE officials expressed confidence yesterday that much of the rest of the world is coming round to Tokyo's way of thinking as the International Whaling Commission's scientific committee began deliberations in Ulsan, South Korea.

Armed with a proposal to double its whale catch and expand the "scientific programme" to two other species, the feeling in Tokyo's delegation is one of cautious optimism.

"We're looking forward to something good coming out of the Ulsan meeting and although there are still some difficulties ahead, the number of countries that support the sustainable utilisation of whales accounts for almost half of the IWC's members," said Hideki Moromuki, of the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries' whaling division.

"Our ultimate purpose is, of course, the resumption of commercial whaling, and although I don't know if we will be able to achieve that in Ulsan, we have a lot of support on the issue of marine resources and I'm sure we will achieve our aim soon."

The run-up to the meeting, which will be followed by the 61-nation IWC's five-day annual conference in the same city from 20 June, has been marked by increasingly acrimonious debate between Japan and governments that oppose whaling, particularly New Zealand and Australia.

Ian Campbell, Australia's environment minister, has been among the most vociferous opponents of Japan's plans to more than double its Antarctic catch of minke whales to 945, as well as take 50 humpback and 50 fin whales....more...

[FG Lurker]

[FG Lurker]

A modest proposal: Let's eat Japanese scientists
The Courier Mail, June 8, 2005

MEMBERS of Japan's pro-whale hunting lobby aren't a popular bunch. Their critics just can't seem to get a grip on the fact that luncheon meat is a perfectly acceptable byproduct of scientific research.

In 1.5 weeks, the International Whaling Commission will meet in South Korea, where Japan will argue that it be allowed to double its minke whale massacre and add endangered humpback and fin whales to its sushi trains ... sorry, legitimate scientific laboratories.

[...]

The modest proposal is that knowledge-hungry Australian scientists would be able to hunt and kill several hundred Japanese whale scientists per year to obtain important information such as how old they are, where they live and how their loins taste when marinated, barbecued and served with a feisty shiraz.

(Full Story)

:rofl:

I don't agree with all of what they say, but it's a pretty entertaining read.

[kurohinge1]

Eat Me!



Japan used aid as whaling bribes: report

The ABC's Four Corners program says it has evidence Japan has been using aid money to buy the votes of small Caribbean and Pacific island nations for a return to commercial whaling.

Environmental groups have long claimed Japan has been using aid funds to buy votes at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) but Japan has always denied the charge.

Four Corners, to be aired tonight, spoke to Solomon Islands fisheries department chief Tione Bugotu who claimed Japan poured money into the country in exchange for its IWC vote and cheap access to tuna.

Mr Bugotu told the program he was now investigating the theft of millions of dollars paid to the fisheries department by the Japanese ...

A similar claim was made by former Dominique government member Atherton Martin, who resigned in 2000 after Japan allegedly bought his government's vote with aid.

He said Japan told the Dominique government there would be no more aid without its vote.

... Four Corners says it has obtained a letter from Grenada's accountant general confirming that Japan made payments to cover the country's IWC fees.

Admission to the IWC is about $30,000 ... more

Sounds like a good investment - $30,000 to get in and then watch the millions roll in. Where can I buy one of these IWC tickets?

[Buraku]

Whale kill stymied
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,19503108%255E663,00.html
Japan's plan to resume killing whales for profit has been defeated by a coalition of anti-whaling nations.

[Greji]

Japan's criminal whaling industry bribing countries for IWC votes
Cyber Diver News Network

Hey, when you're broke and need cash, like, yesterday, why let Moby Dick stand in the way?

[Captain Japan]

Landlocked Laos to join IWC, Tokyo says likely to back bid to resume commercial whaling
IHT

TOKYO: The landlocked nation of Laos has agreed to join the International Whaling Commission at Japan's request and is highly likely to support Tokyo's high-profile pro-whaling campaign, a Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.

Word of Laotian plans to join the IWC came ahead of the group's next annual meeting May 28-31 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Japan is on a diplomatic drive to win support for its bid to overturn a moratorium on commercial whaling, but it was unclear if Laos could complete membership in time to lend its support to the campaign.

Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh made the pledge Monday during talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who afterward announced new development aid of US$1 million (€740,000) to Laos for the removal of buried, unexploded bombs.

Laos has no coastline and no tradition of whaling or eating whale meat as in Japan, and its IWC membership fanned accusations among anti-whaling activists that Tokyo plies impoverished nations with aid in exchange for pro-whaling votes....more...