Whaling meeting 'ignores needs of whales'

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News, Jersey

The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting has closed after a tense final day when relations between opposing blocs came close to collapse.

Latin American nations attempted to force a vote on a proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic.

Pro-whaling countries walked out, but eventually it was decided to shelve any vote until next year's meeting.

Environment groups said the delays and wrangling meant important issues for whale conservation were neglected.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14153779

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The whaling body finds itself entangled in conflict -
some would say hopelessly so

[Drale]

1. The UN should classify whaling in the same boat as piracy

that way any boat caught doing it can be arrested on sight.

[DeSwiss]

2. K&R n/t

[flvegan]

3. "...censuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society"

Fucking laughable. The whalers intentionally ram a small boat in an attempt to kill SSCS crew, and nothing. But a Powerpoint presentation this year garners boo-hoos from idiots. Big shock that the IWC is complicit in the killing of whales.

Who cares. The whaling industry in Japan is bankrupt, and Operation Divine Wind has just started. SSCS evicted the whalers from the hunt area last year and will do it again this year.

And let us never forget:

Sierra
Isba I
Isba II
Susan
Theresa
Hvalur 6
Hvalur 7
Nybraena
Senet
Elin-Toril
Morild
Willassen Senior
Skarbakk

Real shame what happened to them. Real shame.

[rwsanders]

4. Latest gimic by Japan...

I read somewhere else they are trying to say that the Japanese are actually against whaling but defend it because they don't like the outside pressure of groups like SSCS.
Complete BS in my opinion. Just a ploy to get them to stop since SSCS actually seems to be gaining the upper hand at this point.

[flvegan]

6. Lets not besmirch the Japanese people.

The Japanese people have their own thoughts and opinions. Many are against it. Many are against it but defend it. Many are for it.

This is about the IWC and the whalers. Let us please leave the general population of Japan out of it, and not generalize and that isn't fair.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Demand is the key element in the drive to eliminate whaling

It is not going to stop until there is no market for whale meat.

[flvegan]

13. Except that it's money.

Demand has little to do with it.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. Then what is driving Japanese whaling in your opinion?

[Chan790]

7. I like to think how fast commercial whaling would come to an end...

in Japan if the hull of the Nisshin Maru were to somehow rupture or the ballast valves "gave out" flooding the aft compartment in the middle of some lonely night docked in Tokyo. Damn shame that would be. :sarcasm:

It'd cost more to salvage it from the bottom of Shimonoseki Harbor or replace it than the whaling fleet has made in years.

[flvegan]

8. Now, now, now...

should the Nisshin sink in-harbor with nobody aboard, that would be absolutely terrible for them. I mean, I'd be really happy that such a horrible incident happened, luck be damned, so long as no person was harmed.

*cough* Agenda 21 *cough*

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. I do remember hearing about the Rainbow Warrior sinking a while back

Making war on a sovereign nation with a modern navy is suicide, even if you do have a TV show.

[flvegan]

12. War?

Is that what has been done? The French? Yeah, 1985 called and they want their bullshit back.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. That is what an attack on one of their merchant ships in their national waters would be

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. Japan is not the only whaling nation

The key is demand. Solve that and only then will it end

[Chan790]

15. There is virtually no demand...

The Japanese continue to whale because they claim it's cultural heritage and an important job-sector (one filled with un-re-trainable workers they claim) for their economy; while they push whale meat off onto schoolchildren, elderly people in state homes and stockpile frozen whale meat in ever larger quantities (as a byproduct of "research"). It'd be like if Americans suddenly woke up and 99% of the public decided they didn't want to consume corn anymore (not for ethical reasons...they just don't like it.)...but we continued to subsidize corn anyways because it was key to the economy of Nebraska. It's both an economic waste and a waste of life. What Japan has in the freezers is sufficient to meet total world demand for the next 15 years...or more.

Norway and Aleut populations provide marginally more demand. The Aleut claim cultural heritage going back 3000 years and are actually consuming the fairly-small number of whales they kill each year: as a food source, an energy source and like most indigenous people use virtually the entire animal. Norwegians have about as much economic demand for whale meat as the Japanese do outside of a fairly small part of their nation...as a result, like Japan, their whaling industry is almost fully subsidized.

It'd be a better use of IWC to tell Norway and Japan that we're standing by the whaling ban, ending the research exemption. What they're spending on subsidy is enough by-far to fully-retrain those in the whaling industry into actually-productive job-sectors.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. If there is no demand, why does Japan fund it?

Also Iceland did some recent whaling

[Chan790]

23. Frankly I have no idea.

I only know what I told you above: they can't sell anywhere near what they're taking so they're foisting it on schoolchildren, the elderly in state care, prisoners, homeless people and stockpiling it. They're literally funding it to employ whalers as far as I can tell. End of story. It's the only logical conclusion...I know factually there is no significant demand.

[sofa king]

24. The whole thing is a mess.

I used to attend and report on the "confidential" US IWC pre-meetings for a certain indigenous group that feels it needs to protect its treaty fishing rights by occasionally also taking a whale, despite the huge negative exposure. Rarely have I seen a more intractable problem, where all involved parties rely on some flawed argument to support their own bizarre positions.

The IWC is really screwed up. The Scandies, Japanese, and tribes have a legitimate gripe in that the IWC's stated purpose is to regulate the practice of whaling, not ban whaling altogether. Those nations can and occasionally do walk away from the IWC or exploit ridiculous loopholes like the minke "science" catches, which of course leads to more dead whales.

So the committed whaling nations have to somehow be kept in the IWC fold, which can only be done through some sort of distasteful compromise. And of course, every compromise means more whales wind up in the freezer for decades, waiting for someone to reacquire a taste for nasty freezer-burned whale meat.

But if the non-whaling nations of the IWC enjoy further regulatory success, the likelihood that the whaling nations will simply defy the IWC increases dramatically. The poor damned whales really are caught in the middle, and lose with every decision and adjustment.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

14. i assume your refering to the ady gil, in which case i don't think it was possible

for those investigating to find out exactly who was at fault.

Personally i put both sides at fault since the SS were behaving against some common sense sea rules/guidelines, nor does it help that atleast to my eyes they seemed to steer it right into their path(as the churn in the water seems to indicate), Had they remained in place rather then boost forward its possible the Japanese boat would have missed them so i don't agree it was a purposeful ramming

Both groups are/were/will continue to act like nimwits tho I think

[GliderGuider]

17. Just so nobody misses your excellent point...

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/428802.html



Damn shame. Crying shame with crocodile tears.

Sanctuary now!

[Bonobo]

5. "Fishing meeting ignores needs of fish"

Doesn't that sound a wee bit silly?

[WatsonT]

16. Plankton and Nerf harpoons?

[Nihil]

21. As some would say, "Mission Accomplished!" ...

> Pro-whaling countries walked out, but eventually it was decided to shelve
> any vote until next year's meeting.

IOKITYAC

They got their "censure" then walked out before anything important could
be decided.

Fuck them. Sink their ships - occupied or not - and just fuck them.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

22. And when they reply in kind?

SSCS can not stand up to any sovereign nation with a navy