Japan suspends Antarctic whale hunt - reports
The Japanese whaling fleet appears to have called an early end to its whaling season in Antarctica, a move which conservationists tentatively say could spell an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) issued a statement welcoming reports in the Japanese media that Tokyo had decided to cut short this year's Antarctic hunt and the fleet was heading back to port with less than half its projected quota.
"Putting safety as a priority, the fleet has halted scientific whaling for now. We are currently considering what to do hereafter," Tatsuya Nakaoku, an official at the Fisheries Agency, told Reuters.
When asked if Japan was considering bringing back the fleet earlier than planned, he said this remained an option and added that Japan's whaling plans were not going smoothly.
The Sea Shepherd group's vessel Bob Barker has been following the fleet's factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, since February 9. Bob Barker's captain, Alex Cornelissen, confirmed that the whaling vessel had left the hunting grounds and was now 2000 nautical miles from them in the Drake Passage, between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica.
Three harpoon vessels which made up the remainder of the fleet were unaccounted for, he said, but these would be unable to kill whales without the Nisshin Maru to process them.
The fleet had had an "absolutely disastrous" season because conservationists had been shadowing it since the first day of the whaling season.
"I think this year will mark the most successful year in (the Sea Shepherd's) history and we can only hope that this will be the turning point, that this will be the moment that the Japanese whaling fleet will decide to throw the towel in and this will be the end of Japanese whaling in the Antarctic," Mr Cornelissen told NZPA.
IFAW's global whale programme director Patrick Ramage said the fleet was apparently withdrawing due to pressure from all fronts.
"We hope this is a first sign of Japanese government decision-makers recognising there is no future for whaling in the 21st Century.
"Ultimately, the decision to finally end whaling for good will take place not in the turbulent waters of the Southern Ocean nor on the floor of the International Whaling Commission but in the halls of power in Tokyo, Oslo and Reykjavik," he said.
Japan's self-awarded scientific permit for 2010-11 gives the whaling fleet millions of square kilometres of ocean south of Australia and New Zealand to hunt down whales.
- NZPA, NZ Herald staff
It's about damn time!
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Gawdzilla Sama
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It's about damn time!
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: It's about damn time!
"Nuke the Gay Welfare Leftist Whales!!!!"devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
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FBM
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Re: It's about damn time!
They don't sign my paychecks, either, but I'd like to be able to ride out and see one someday.devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
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"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: It's about damn time!
A trip by ship up the Pacific Coast of USA North, from Seattle to Anchorage, would be something I'd happily kill for.FBM wrote:They don't sign my paychecks, either, but I'd like to be able to ride out and see one someday.devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
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Re: It's about damn time!
Would you be willing to kill a whale for it? If so, I know this Japanese dude who could hook you up.Gawdzilla wrote:A trip by ship up the Pacific Coast of USA North, from Seattle to Anchorage, would be something I'd happily kill for.FBM wrote:They don't sign my paychecks, either, but I'd like to be able to ride out and see one someday.devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: It's about damn time!
I thought I'd killed a whale once. Turned out he'd just dived deep to avoid the go-bangs. I imagine he had a heck of a headache after that.FBM wrote:Would you be willing to kill a whale for it? If so, I know this Japanese dude who could hook you up.Gawdzilla wrote:A trip by ship up the Pacific Coast of USA North, from Seattle to Anchorage, would be something I'd happily kill for.FBM wrote:They don't sign my paychecks, either, but I'd like to be able to ride out and see one someday.devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
"Danger! Humans!"
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Re: It's about damn time!
Cool, there will be a bigger export market for the Icelandic stuff 
Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.
Code: Select all
// Replaces with spaces the braces in cases where braces in places cause stasis
$str = str_replace(array("\{","\}")," ",$str);-
Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: It's about damn time!
"Nuke the Gay Welfare Leftist Icelandic Whale Hunters!!!!"Azathoth wrote:Cool, there will be a bigger export market for the Icelandic stuff
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Horwood Beer-Master
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Re: It's about damn time!
Too right - bloody sheep-shaggers!devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about wales.
Re: It's about damn time!
Back in about 3 BC (Before Children) my wife and I went on one of those short whale-watching cruises off the coast of Boston. We had just enough time to see a whale's tale pop up out of the water before she collapsed in a heap and had to be picked up by a Coast Guard boat and rushed to the hospital....FBM wrote:They don't sign my paychecks, either, but I'd like to be able to ride out and see one someday.devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
Who needs a signature anyway?
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: It's about damn time!
Was the whale okay?drl2 wrote:Back in about 3 BC (Before Children) my wife and I went on one of those short whale-watching cruises off the coast of Boston. We had just enough time to see a whale's tale pop up out of the water before she collapsed in a heap and had to be picked up by a Coast Guard boat and rushed to the hospital....FBM wrote:They don't sign my paychecks, either, but I'd like to be able to ride out and see one someday.devogue wrote:Meh. I don't care about whales.
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