Wednesday 24th of April 2024
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the importance of principles .....

the importance of principles .....

“Australia has sacrificed the principles of science-based management and sustainable use that are the world standard (and which Australia uses in other international forums and for the management of its own wildlife) as a political expediency to satisfy the interests of non-government organisations. 

Australia's intransigence and continued lobbying of other members of the International Whaling Commission to resolutely oppose any return to sustainable commercial whaling - and research whaling - has helped to bring the commission to the brink of collapse.  

Australia's hypocritical behaviour has been one of the causes of Japan's desire to form an alternative whaling organisation through which appropriate management of whale resources could be pursued.” 

Minoru Morimoto

Japanese Commissioner

International Whaling Commission & Director-General of the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo 

Enough Whales For Watching & Eating

scientific death

Obviously Minoru Morimoto's motives are as pure as the driven coal... The "research" of the Cetacean institute is mostly focused on making sure the Japanese public does no loose its taste for whale meat and study harpoons greased with whale monkey blubber...

Whales are intelligent animals that do not breed like rabbits. Whales deserve a bit more respect than scientific butchery.

I remember when I was a young lad, this circus coming to town that was exhibiting a dead whale, in a huge glass vat of formaldehyde, the size of two semi trailers (unless it had been stuffed and the eyes had been preserved in big jam jars on either side — my memory is fuzy)... But the eye... mate Minoru!!! The eye!!! Do I remember the eye!!!!!!! The eye showed an animal that was intelligent enough to have at least one Einstein per pod of five... The eye of an animal that had suffered a horrible death knowingly.

Sure, we Australians see a different value in whales and we shoot big rabbits disguised as kangaroos... This could make us look like hypocrites... but be damned... Let's save the whales anyway from "science". 

noise, whales and cannons...

Bush exempts Navy from sonar laws

United States President George W Bush has exempted the US Navy from an environmental law protecting whales and dolphins from sonar devices used in military exercises off the coast of California, the White House says.

Animal welfare groups maintain mid-frequency sonar can disorient marine mammals with sometimes lethal results, while the White House argues the naval exercises are crucial to national security.

Training and other military preparedness exercises by the Navy, "including the use of mid-frequency active sonar ... are in the paramount interest of the United States," Mr Bush said in a memorandum to the Defence Department.

Mr Bush is allowing the Navy to override injunction issued by a US District Court in California requiring it to "monitor for and avoid marine mammals while operating high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar during ... naval exercises."

Mr Bush's exemption has drawn strong criticism from animal groups who have been fighting for the injunction.

"There is absolutely no justification for this," Californian coastal commissioner Sara Wan said.

"Both the court and the Coastal Commission have said that the Navy can carry out its mission as well as protect the whales. This is a slap in the face to Californians who care about the oceans."

Veto-ing the veto-er...

US judge reinstates sonar curbs

A judge has ruled that the US Navy must adhere to a curb on the use of strong sonar in waters off California, amid concerns about its effect on whales.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper overturned an exemption granted last month by President George W Bush.

He had cited national security when he ordered the Navy's submarine detection exercises should go on.

Conservationists hailed the judge's ruling. It is the latest in a series of disputes over the Navy's use of sonar.

That's what living things are for...

Dolphin guides stranded whales

A playful dolphin used to swimming round humans has amazed conservation workers by guiding two distressed whales back to sea away from likely death on a beach.

The dolphin led the two pygmy sperm whales 200 metres along the beach and through a channel to the open sea, New Zealand Department of Conservation worker Malcolm Smith said today.

The two whales, a mother and her young calf, were found stranded on Mahia Beach, on North Island's east coast on Monday morning, Smith said.

"We worked for over an hour to try to get them back out to sea ... but they kept getting disorientated and stranding again [after swimming into a large sandbar just off the shore]," he said.

"They obviously couldn't find their way back past it to the sea," Smith said.

Four attempts by volunteers to refloat the pair failed and it was becoming highly likely they would have to be euthanised, he said.

Then the dolphin, named Moko by residents, swam up.

"It was looking like it was going to be a bad outcome for the whales which was very disappointing and then Moko just came along and fixed it."

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Gus: see picture at social and individual intelligence and blogs below it (forget the crummy cartoon at the top of this line of blog) — a line of blogs where I stress the importance of curiosity, and that diplayed by dolphins... These animals are smart. Smarter than the average human, may be... Sure it's difficult to assess but that's the way it often appears to me...

Thanks.

japanese pirates...

Anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd claims two of its boats have been rammed by a Japanese ship in Australian Antarctic waters.

Activists say the attacks happened after they were ordered to leave the area by one of the boats in the Japanese whaling fleet.

They say the factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, repeatedly rammed the Steve Irwin and then the Bob Barker, pushing it into a Korean re-fuelling boat.

Sea Shepherd says "concussion grenades" have also been thrown at their activists.

The group's director, Bob Brown, says he has alerted authorities and wants immediate action against what he calls "multiple breaches of international law".

"I have informed the Government," he told ABC24. "Theses are Australian territorial waters and it is time for the Government to reassert itself and send naval vessels.

"This is the worse incident we've seen since the sinking of one of our vessels.

"It's extraordinarily dangerous and a direct break of the law. The escort vessel hurling grenades is labelled 'Government of Japan'.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-20/sea-shepherd-collision-with-japanese-ship/4530080?WT.svl=news0