Australia to Monitor Japanese Whalers in Antarctica (Update1)

By Stuart Biggs and Michael Heath

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's government said it will send a coastguard ship and aircraft to collect evidence against Japan's whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean as it steps up pressure on the Japanese government to stop hunting the mammals.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's newly elected government will also lead a coalition of anti-whaling countries and lodge a formal complaint against Japan's plan to kill humpback, minke and fin whales in Antarctica, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith and Environment Minister Peter Garrett said in a joint statement today.

The decision risks antagonizing Japan's government, which says it won't tolerate interference in the ``scientific'' whaling expedition. Japan says the program is necessary to prove that cetacean populations have recovered sufficiently to allow a return to commercial whaling, banned internationally since 1986.

``One of the few issues on which we fundamentally disagree is Japan's policy of undertaking so-called `scientific whaling' in the face of widespread opposition from the Australian and international community,'' the ministers said. ``Australia is determined to play a leading role in international efforts to stop Japan's whaling practices.''

Australia will send the Ocean Viking vessel to shadow the Japanese whaling fleet while an Australia Antarctic Division A319 plane will provide aerial surveillance, according to the statement. The Ocean Viking, which usually carries two .50- caliber machineguns, will be disarmed for the mission.

Legal Action

The government plans to use evidence obtained by the ship to prepare for possible international legal action against the Japanese government, according to the statement.

Japan's plan to kill as many as 1,035 whales during its expedition, the most since it began research whaling in 1987, has drawn criticism from the U.S., European Union, New Zealand and Australia since the whaling fleet set sail on Nov. 18.

``We will deal with the matter calmly, in a way that doesn't damage the friendly ties between Japan and Australia,'' Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters today. ``Japan's research whaling is being carried out in line with the International Whaling Commission, which Australia belongs to. We have explained this, both at home and abroad.''

Machimura said he wasn't aware the Australian government was considering international legal action against Japan.

Harming Relations

The Australian government's decision may exacerbate concerns in Tokyo that Rudd won't place as much emphasis on Australia-Japan relations as his predecessor John Howard, Malcolm Cook, Asia Pacific program director at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, said today by telephone.

``Howard saw Japan as Australia's most important partner. Rudd didn't give anything approaching those signals in opposition and that was a cause for concern,'' Cook said. ``Now Rudd's first diplomatic initiative in government will be to lecture Japan on whaling and that'll be cause for more concern.''

Environmental activist group Greenpeace welcomed Australia's plan, saying it will put more pressure on Japan and marks a shift from Howard's policy of avoiding diplomatic confrontation.

``Sending the vessel will give a very strong signal to Japan that Australia is serious about ending illegal whaling activity in the Southern Ocean,'' Steve Shallhorn, chief executive officer of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said by telephone from Canberra.

Japan, which previously limited its annual Antarctic research hunts to minke and fin whales, angered environmental groups and governments this year by announcing a plan to kill as many as 50 humpbacks for the first time since 1963.

Research whaling is allowed under the terms of a global moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

Animal Welfare

A legal panel commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare said in a report last month that Japan's whaling is ``primarily for commercial purposes'' and ``plainly constitutes international trade.''

The panel recommended legal action against the government of Japan for violations against the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The World Conservation Union lists humpback whales as ``vulnerable.''

Minoru Morimoto, director general of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, disputed the humpback's inclusion on the World Conservation Union list in a statement on Nov. 28, saying that the information used by the organization was out of date.




It would seem that some just don't get the idea of conservation.

WTF!? why does Japan need to kill 1000+ whales in 'scientific' research? makes ZERO sense to me...... But I forgot, LOGIC flew out the window when money became the most important thing...

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Status: Endangered

Population: According to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, it is estimated that there are approximately 30,000 humpback whales worldwide.

Threats: Humpbacks are targeted by illegal whalers, sometimes become entangled in fishing nets, or may suffer the effects of pollution.




MINKE WHALES

Southern Hemisphere - approximate population


1982/83 - 1988/89........ 761,000

Current......The Commission is unable to to provide reliable estimates at the present time. A major review is underway by the Scientific Committee.


Fin Whales


Fin whale - Population & Distribution

Not fast enough for whalers
Previous Population and Distribution
Prior to the invention of the steam engine, whalers were unable to match the amazing speed of the fin whale, and they were largely saved from commercial whaling. That all changed in the early 20th Century, and the global fin whale population was quickly reduced by commercial whaling. Almost 750,000 fin whales were reportedly killed in the Southern Hemisphere between 1904 and 1979 - almost half of these in a single decade in the 1950s.

Current Population and Distribution
The fin whale has a global distribution, occurring in the north Pacific, north Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Oceans, as well as in the Mediterranean. In the North Pacific, fin whales are found in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, and along the coast of Alaska while in the North Atlantic, they can be seen around Canada, Greenland, Iceland, northern Norway, Spitsbergen and the Barents Sea. They are relatively rare in tropical or iced polar seas. In areas of the southern hemisphere where the species was once hunted intensively, they are rarely encountered today.



What bloody right does any country have to kill the gentle giants of the sea?

Hayduke Lives

How very interesting.....or rather uninteresting, to those who don't live outside the US, doesn't affect you, so what do you care?


Nah, what's an ecosystem or two, if they aren't in your backyard?

Or if it doesn't affect the price of YOUR existence....


So bloody typical....

And yet, you seem to forget the billions in federal and private aid we pour into the world in aid to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We are the most generous and giving nation. So bloody typical.

Biting the hand that feeds.......

Pfft! You don't feed me. You personally give me nothing.... nor does your country support mine....


Re-active.


Not a poster in sight with any relevance to what is happening in the Great Southern Ocean....why?

Cause it doesn't affect YOU.

Only a comment about your so great and mighty nation, which doesn't do ANYTHING for nothing....

Yep...typical alright.

Cruelty to any animal or mammal is unacceptable anywhere.....

well done .....golf clap....Great post.

Reddragons scores this post 10/10


Reddragons scoring sytem as follows.

style...10

attitude....10

sarcasm.......10

delivery .........10

dismount......10.

PERFECT SCORE.

Easy now, Jess.. you've slipped in to rant mode. I don't really blame you. You pretty much hit the nail on the head as it pertains to most of us here.. But not all of us.

The problem is world wide. We have Gray, Humpback and Sperm populations here too. The Sperm males migrate south to the Antarctic while the Females and their young migrate north along our coast. What happens down there has a direct effect on every Continent

So call me passionate....


Passionate about this planet, and of course what happens in the waters around me.

Yes I may be privileged to have Humpbacks play 500metres off shore, to loll around the mouth of the channel into Lady Musgrave lagoon, to watch them breech, and tailslap...to have the opportunity to paddle out within 100 metres...

I may be passionate, I may appear to rant.... but they are very real to me, as is all animals, here on this planet...there is only one animal that can be removed from the earth's eco system and not have a negative effect on this planet.....and that's man.

Says a lot.

Hello there Hayduke! - rounding up a Posse?

While removing species and whatnot how about
smallpox, ebola, hiv and related, and MRSA?

And let's keep a few humans OK - i voluteer....
to help with the re-population effort.

this whale hunt is soooo unnecessary. really.
go raise more beansprouts. there are never
enough beansprouts!!

whew......(wipes forhead) ...for a moment there I thought you were gonna say Dragons.

Makes me think of that "Star Trek" show.
Whales save the world from the end.

Where's the reward in giving if you expect the recipiant to bow before you & accept anything you say, regardless of how backward it is? Why do so many americans think their crap don't stink? And why, must they make the rest of us look bad in the process?

I wish whales could hunt the whale hunters, see if the issue gets raised then;^]

It is still being discussed in scientific community as to whether whales/porpoises/dolphins are sentient creatures. They can think (not just rely on instinct), they have language (just because we can't decipher it means nothing), they have a sense of self (as has already been shown in research). They understand sacrifice of self as well (Note whale awarded Victoria Cross during Falklands conflict).

Where is the science in the production of whale oil, perfume, and sale of whale meat? Need dead whales for science? there are enough that wash up for that.

newsflash. it is reconsidered for humpbacks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_on_re_as/japan_humpback_hunt

I watched it on the news tonight, then went investigating.

This New Government best be putting it's election promises where it's paycheck is.

How did Japans recent interest in whaling become an anti-American rant?? Thought we stopped whaling a long time ago

The mere fact that if it doesn't have a US related topic,almost none respond, most of the posters in here, aren't interested in what happens to other parts of the world...that's how it became an anti US rant.

Most of you can't see past your nose.


Why wouldn't I rant?

There's a whole world out there, and most of the forum posters can't be bothered noticing.

And not a small assumption, but a nearly nine month observation.

Answer your question?

Oh, and Japan has not become RECENTLY interested in research, if you bothered to check , it's a loophole ploy, to do what they damn well please.

Sound familiar?