Anti-whaling nations warn against violence

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence-France Presse

Anti-whaling nations warn against violence
AFP
December 20, 2013, 12:26 pm

Wellington (AFP) - Anti-whaling nations including the United States on Friday warned environmentalists and Japanese whalers against taking action that endangers human life as an annual confrontation brews in the remote Southern Ocean.

Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States said in a joint statement that they respected the right to protest on the high seas, provided it was non-violent and conducted safely.

"However, we unreservedly condemn dangerous, reckless or unlawful behaviour by all participants on either side, whether in the Southern Ocean or elsewhere," they said.

"We will deal with unlawful activity in accordance with relevant international and domestic laws."

Sea Shepherd campaigners set off for Antarctic waters on Wednesday saying they expected increased aggression from the Japanese fleet after their harassment tactics kept the cull to a record low last season.


Read more: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/20420667/

[loudsue]

1. God speed, Sea Shepherd. My heroes.

Saving the world, one whale at a time.

I'm getting sick of the fucking Japanese whalers. Their government needs to reel them in and take them to the wood shed.

[flvegan]

2. Ramming speed.

God bless "unforgivable sabotage"

Sea Shepherd campaigners set off for Antarctic waters on Wednesday saying they expected increased aggression from the Japanese fleet after their harassment tactics kept the cull to a record low last season.

The hunt netted just 103 minke whales, less than half its tally the previous year, and no fin whales, with Japanese authorities blaming "unforgivable sabotage" by activists.



Hey morons, when you want to condemn unlawful behaviour, and seek to "deal with unlawful activity" do please let the rest of us know. Until then, godspeed to you Sea Shepherd and fistbumps to Agenda 21.

Fuck you, whalers and the ships you sailed in on, apologists included. Go dive at the Senet or the Skarbakk. Too soon?

[LeftyMom]

3. I reject any definition of violence that excludes firing explosive harpoons at whales

[awoke_in_2003]

4. If you don't want violence...

tell the Japanese to cease and desist. They are the instigators.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Australia: Greg Hunt misses deadline to send vessel to monitor Japanese whaling

Greg Hunt misses deadline to send vessel to monitor Japanese whaling

Government’s monitoring vessel drafted to Operation Sovereign Borders as Japanese ‘kill ships’ hone in on whale sanctuary

Oliver Milman
theguardian.com, Friday 20 December 2013 00.57 EST

Greg Hunt, the environment minister, appears to have missed a self-imposed deadline to send a vessel to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet, which is homing in on the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

Hunt said the government was still committed to monitoring whaling, but that he would “have more to say on that in the coming days, we are just finalising the details”.

On 10 December, Hunt said he would make an announcement on the arrangements for monitoring within 10 days. This now looks unlikely to happen, with the environment minister understood to be in negotiations with cabinet colleagues over the logistics of the operation.

The Ocean Protector, a vessel that is custom built for the Southern Ocean, has seemingly been put out of Hunt’s reach, with the mid-year budget update assigning the boat to Operation Sovereign Borders, where it has been patrolling waters near Christmas Island for asylum seekers. It’s unclear which other vessels could be given the task.

In opposition, Hunt was a strident critic of Labor for failing to patrol Australia’s Antarctic waters territory to prevent the slaughter of whales. “We’ve got blood in the water and a blind eye in Canberra, it’s completely unacceptable,” he told reporters in February.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/20/greg-hunt-misses-deadline-to-monitor-japanese-whaling

[GliderGuider]

6. My hat is off to SSCS - keep holding their murderous feet to the fire....

K&R

[tblue]

7. "We will deal with unlawful activity in accordance with relevant international and domestic laws."

Bull! If that was true, Sea Shepherd wouldn't need to be out there patrolling the Southern Ocean.

Godspeed, Sea Shepherd.

[Number9Dream]

8. IWC members admit to Japanese bribes

snip> In 2000, the Government of Dominica was thrown into crisis when the Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, Atherton Martin, resigned in protest over the decision by Prime Minister Roosevelt Douglas to override a Cabinet decision to abstain on the IWC vote on creating a South Pacific whale sanctuary.
"They (Japan) announced that if they couldn't get Dominica to come along with them, they would have to place Dominican projects under review," Martin stated on BBC's Newsnight program. "If that is not extortion by the Japanese government, I don't know what it is. They are saying 'You either go with us or we pull the aid.'

snip> Martin, the former Environment and Fisheries Minister of Dominica, commented to the Observer that, "Small nations are enormously vulnerable to offers of aid. Through extortion with aid, Japan has been able to get many island nations to join the International Whaling Commission and vote its way."

snip> Later in 2001, the official newsletter of the Antigua and Barbuda government published an article entitled "Antigua Government Getting Returns." It cited a US $17 million fisheries grant from Japan as having come "as a direct result of its pro-whaling stance." Planning Minister Gaston Browne, when asked if Antigua's vote at the IWC was a factor in the grant, stated that, "If we were to antagonize them, I imagine that they would not be so anxious to assist us."

Link to more examples:
http://www.earthisland.org/immp/eco2004_issue4.html

Best wishes to the Sea Shepherd ships and crews.