<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Over 350 whales saved? That's a big victory in my book. :) YAY! Thanks for sharing this good news. <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>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. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>peace,</DIV><DIV>~megan</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Mar 1, 2007, at 12:37 AM, <A href="mailto:vision2020-request@moscow.com">vision2020-request@moscow.com</A> wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Thought this was interesting....comments?</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 28, 2:02 PM ET</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">TOKYO - A Japanese whaling fleet is heading home after high-seas<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">brinksmanship with environmental groups and a deadly fire that crippled its<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">mother ship and ended the hunt in the Antarctic hundreds of whales short of<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">its goal.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">The return of the six-ship fleet brought to an early end this year's hunt,<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">which had been scheduled to continue through March. Officials said it was<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">the first time in the 20 years since the scientific hunts began that one had<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">to end early.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">"We are very disappointed," Takahide Naruko, the head of the Fisheries<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Agency's Far Seas Division, said Wednesday.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Officials also lodged a strong protest over "vicious and reckless" attempts<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">by whaling opponents to sabotage the hunt, which killed 508 whales out of a<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">target of 860.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru two weeks ago killed one crew member and<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">left the vessel unable to sail under its own power for 10 days, prompting<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">protests from New Zealand and from the environmental group Greenpeace over<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">potential oil and chemical spills or damage to penguin colonies.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Naruko said the cause of the fire was under investigation. He said the<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Nisshin Maru would likely be repaired in time for the next hunt, in the<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">northwest Pacific in May, when Japan plans to kill 350 whales.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">The fleet is part of a scientific whaling program that Japan says provides<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">crucial data for the</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">International Whaling Commission — which allows the hunts — on populations,<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">feeding habits and distribution of the mammals.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">But the program has long been the target of environmental groups, which say<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">it is a pretext for Japan to keep its whalers afloat despite an<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">international ban on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Commission in 1986.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">After researchers complete their studies of the killed whales, the meat is<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">sold in Japan for food. Naruko said that although the number of whales<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">killed fell short of the target, it was sufficient to conduct some research<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">and to distribute for sale.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">"I don't think there will be a significant increase in the cost of whale<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">meat," he said.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Profits from the sales help fund the research program.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Japan has been increasingly strident in its calls for a lifting of the<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">commercial whaling ban. This month, it hosted a conference of whaling<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">supporters and issued a stinging rebuke of dozens of anti-whaling nations<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">that stayed away, saying their absence would prevent reforms.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Tokyo maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">food culture, and argues that whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">1986 to allow a resumption of limited hunts of certain species.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">But Greenpeace and other environmental groups say lifting the ban would open<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">the door to excessive kills, and that research could be done without killing<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">whales.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">This year's protests, led by the Sea Shepherd group, were particularly<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">heated.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Japanese officials on Tuesday showed videos of protesters aboard a Sea<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Shepherd ship — flying a skull-and-crossbones pirate flag — launching smoke<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">canisters, throwing containers filled with chemicals, and dropping ropes and<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">nets to try to entangle the ships' propellors.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">One video also showed a protest ship ramming a whaling vessel.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">"Such vicious and reckless actions by the Sea Shepherd not only violate the<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">international agreements established in order to prohibit piracy and<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">guarantee the safety of navigation, they are inexcusable criminal acts,"<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">said Hiroshi Hatanaka, head of the Institute of Cetacean Research, which is<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">in charge of the hunts.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday that the Nisshin Maru —<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">carrying 343,000 gallons of fuel oil — posed a huge risk to the pristine<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Antarctic environment and called the fire a "disaster." Greenpeace offered<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">to tow the ship into calmer seas.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">The whalers declined the offer.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">Japanese officials stress that no oil has leaked from the ship and said it<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">safely moved away from the Antarctic coast under its own power last weekend.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Helvetica">J<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>:]</FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>