[Vision2020] Whaling Ship Goes Home Early

[g. crabtree]

There are an enormous list of things that are "not necessary for human life" and I don't think that you really want to see arbitrary groups of extremists start to decide what they are and deprive you of them. If it's determined that enough whales exist to support managed hunting and there are people willing to risk their lives to hunt them all I can say is watch out Shamu and bon appetite.

Wo tanoshinde kudasai!
g
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Megan Prusynski 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 1:23 AM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Whaling Ship Goes Home Early


  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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