Environment Watch: Japanese on Hunt for 1000 Whales
Minke WhaleVia The Australian.
Defying furious international protest and a decades-old moratorium, a whaling fleet has left southern Japan's Shimonoseki port on a hunt that will include the humpback.More here.
Japanese whalers were last night heading to waters off Antarctica despite a high-seas showdown with environmental groups last year, and a deadly fire that crippled the fleet's mother ship and triggered strong protests over a potential oil spill.
This year's hunt includes a target of 50 humpback whales, the first known large-scale hunt for the species since a 1963 moratorium put them under international protection.
The mission aims to take up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and 50 fin whales by April in what Japan's Fisheries Agency says will be its largest scientific whale hunt in the South Pacific.
Image source: 7 Seas Whale Watch
posted by Fergie @ 11/18/2007 12:38:00 PM
2 Comments:
Humpback whales have learned to trust man in the forty-five years since we stopped hunting them.
If Japan carries out its aim of harpooning 50 humpback whales in the Antarctic this Southern Hemisphere Summer, the whale watching industry on Australia's east and west coasts will soon find out.
The humpbacks are the same as those who delight Australians each year and have created a $AU 300 million a year whale watching industry.
There is no benefit to mankind by killing these whales. Their meat won't help the poor ease their hunger but will grace the tables of the wealthy. The killing is done in the name of science but is it science to kill the subject?
chris pash
http://thelastwhale.blogspot.com
Thanks for blogging about the plight of the whales!
If you would like to donate to help save the whales, I am trying to raise money for Greenpeace's efforts at the link below.
http://secure.greenpeace.org/profile.php?usa&p=613124311194300282
Even if all you can only donate $5, every little bit helps! Thanks in advance!
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