[Vision2020] Whaling Ship Goes Home Early

[Megan Prusynski]

Over 350 whales saved? That's a big victory in my book. :) YAY!  
Thanks for sharing this good news.

Can't really agree with all of the Sea Shepherd's tactics but last  
time I checked, whale meat was not a necessity for human life (unless  
you call heart attacks and cholesterol necessities), nor is killing  
whales necessary for studying them. That excuse is a whole bunch of  
baloney. Let's hope Japan realizes this soon and ceases whaling  
altogether.

peace,
~megan

On Mar 1, 2007, at 12:37 AM, vision2020-request at moscow.com wrote:

> Thought this was interesting....comments?
>
>
>
> By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 28, 2:02 PM ET
>
> TOKYO - A Japanese whaling fleet is heading home after high-seas
> brinksmanship with environmental groups and a deadly fire that  
> crippled its
> mother ship and ended the hunt in the Antarctic hundreds of whales  
> short of
> its goal.
>
> The return of the six-ship fleet brought to an early end this  
> year's hunt,
> which had been scheduled to continue through March. Officials said  
> it was
> the first time in the 20 years since the scientific hunts began  
> that one had
> to end early.
>
> "We are very disappointed," Takahide Naruko, the head of the Fisheries
> Agency's Far Seas Division, said Wednesday.
>
> Officials also lodged a strong protest over "vicious and reckless"  
> attempts
> by whaling opponents to sabotage the hunt, which killed 508 whales  
> out of a
> target of 860.
>
> The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru two weeks ago killed one crew  
> member and
> left the vessel unable to sail under its own power for 10 days,  
> prompting
> protests from New Zealand and from the environmental group  
> Greenpeace over
> potential oil and chemical spills or damage to penguin colonies.
>
> Naruko said the cause of the fire was under investigation. He said the
> Nisshin Maru would likely be repaired in time for the next hunt, in  
> the
> northwest Pacific in May, when Japan plans to kill 350 whales.
>
> The fleet is part of a scientific whaling program that Japan says  
> provides
> crucial data for the
> International Whaling Commission — which allows the hunts — on  
> populations,
> feeding habits and distribution of the mammals.
>
> But the program has long been the target of environmental groups,  
> which say
> it is a pretext for Japan to keep its whalers afloat despite an
> international ban on commercial whaling imposed by the  
> International Whaling
> Commission in 1986.
>
> After researchers complete their studies of the killed whales, the  
> meat is
> sold in Japan for food. Naruko said that although the number of whales
> killed fell short of the target, it was sufficient to conduct some  
> research
> and to distribute for sale.
>
> "I don't think there will be a significant increase in the cost of  
> whale
> meat," he said.
>
> Profits from the sales help fund the research program.
>
> Japan has been increasingly strident in its calls for a lifting of the
> commercial whaling ban. This month, it hosted a conference of whaling
> supporters and issued a stinging rebuke of dozens of anti-whaling  
> nations
> that stayed away, saying their absence would prevent reforms.
>
> Tokyo maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital  
> part of its
> food culture, and argues that whale stocks have sufficiently  
> recovered since
> 1986 to allow a resumption of limited hunts of certain species.
>
> But Greenpeace and other environmental groups say lifting the ban  
> would open
> the door to excessive kills, and that research could be done  
> without killing
> whales.
>
> This year's protests, led by the Sea Shepherd group, were particularly
> heated.
>
> Japanese officials on Tuesday showed videos of protesters aboard a Sea
> Shepherd ship — flying a skull-and-crossbones pirate flag —  
> launching smoke
> canisters, throwing containers filled with chemicals, and dropping  
> ropes and
> nets to try to entangle the ships' propellors.
>
> One video also showed a protest ship ramming a whaling vessel.
>
> "Such vicious and reckless actions by the Sea Shepherd not only  
> violate the
> international agreements established in order to prohibit piracy and
> guarantee the safety of navigation, they are inexcusable criminal  
> acts,"
> said Hiroshi Hatanaka, head of the Institute of Cetacean Research,  
> which is
> in charge of the hunts.
>
> New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday that the Nisshin  
> Maru —
> carrying 343,000 gallons of fuel oil — posed a huge risk to the  
> pristine
> Antarctic environment and called the fire a "disaster." Greenpeace  
> offered
> to tow the ship into calmer seas.
>
> The whalers declined the offer.
>
> Japanese officials stress that no oil has leaked from the ship and  
> said it
> safely moved away from the Antarctic coast under its own power last  
> weekend.
>
>
>
> J  :]

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