We can agree to disagree but here r the facts
We can agree to disagree but here r the facts
December 24, 2005
Page 1 of 2
'There has never been a more serious moment for the survival of whales.'
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AdvertisementThe Howard Government has an obligation - and the means - to try to stop the Japanese slaughter in Antarctica, writes Sue Arnold.
Ian Stroud is an old Australian whaler, almost a museum piece. Back in the mid-'50s, he was a gunner killing whales down in the Antarctic aboard the Southern Venturer. When Stroud heard about Greenpeace vessels harassing the Japanese fleet as it sets about the grisly business of killing a thousand minkes and 10 fin whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, he picked up the phone.
His descriptions of the trauma whales endure is hard to listen to. He spoke of whales defecating in terror, crying their distress as the whalers chased them. He spoke of watching and listening to a mother and calf scream as the male was killed in front of them. He recalled how easy it was to kill humpbacks; how the killing season for humpbacks had to be restricted to four days a year because they were such an easy target. He talked about how fin whales fought back, about the oceans of blood that poured over the decks of whaling ships as harpoons sank into living flesh, the whales sometimes taking hours to die - whales, unlike humans, do not lose consciousness until they die, suffering right to the last breath.
This is the fate of l7,000 minkes, 800 humpbacks and 800 fin whales targeted by Japan's latest scientific whaling in a 16-year program known as JARPA 2. Towards the end of next year, Japanese whalers will begin killing the humpbacks that migrate up and down the east and west coasts of Australia
For starters they r killing whales in Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Which is against the Law.
Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (SOWS) was established by the IWC in December 1994. It covers most of the Southern Ocean south of 40 degrees South, to the ice-edge, and includes all the major feeding areas for whales. Japan has objected to the inclusion of minke whales within the list of species protected from whaling within the sanctuary, and is therefore not bound by the Commission's decision to establish the sanctuary. Japan kills some 400 minke whales within the sanctuary each year, through the provisions of Article 8 of the Convention, which allows any member to issue to itself a Special Permit to kill whales for the purposes of scientific research
This is where Whales breed. Its like shooting fish in a barrell. It hard for Whales to reproduce. They r pregnant for 15 months before they deliver & of course only 1 at a time.
Also, Next year Japan will start killing Humback Whales.
Japan's plan to gradually lift the fin whales catch to 50, along with 50 humpback whales, both of which are seriously endangered species
The r endangered species!
