Anti-whaling group says closing in on Japan fleet

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A U.S.-based hardline anti-whaling group, seeking to disrupt Japanese whaling near Antarctica, said it had spotted the fleet and was closing in on it, raising the risk of a confrontation.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, blamed for collisions with the Japanese fleet in recent years, said three ships had been spotted, including two harpoon vessels, which appeared to be engaged in hunting whales amid loose ice, fog and 40-knot winds.

"We are seven miles from the fleet and approaching. We see the Nisshin Maru and two harpoon vessels the Yushin Maru 1 and the Yushin Maru 2," the group's founder Paul Watson said in a statement.

Sea Shepherd's Dutch-registered ship Steve Irwin returned to the Southern Ocean in late January after it was forced to head for Tasmania to refuel after several weeks at sea, pursuing the Japanese fleet.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5100BO20090201

[nikkos_71]

1. how much is enough?

JAPANESE WHALING IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN: DEFIANCE OF INTERNATIONAL WHALING NORMS IN THE NAME OF “SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH,” CULTURE, AND TRADITION

The above article states:

A decision by the WTO and the principle governing “trade and the environment” of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, however, indicated that the unilateral imposition of trade sanctions is only permissible if it is a last resort after exhausting all efforts at international cooperation.

How many times must Japan be warned, or cautioned to stop it's illegal hunting of whales? While I don't go out and participate in "Save the Dolphin" rallies, I am sensitive to species being wiped out just because a culture traditionally uses it for consumption. With the already bulging population, the melting of the polar icecaps, and the potential loss of land mass you would think some compassion for one species' extinction would be appropriate.

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. Isn't it about time for the Australian Navy to go back to work?

They might consider using Japanese whaling vessels for target practice.

[Hugabear]

3. Too bad these anti-whaling boats don't have torpedos on them. n/t

n/t