Japan 'warship plan' to guard whaling fleet - National - theage.com.au: "anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd claims Japan may be sending a warship to the Southern Ocean to protect its whaling fleet from interference."
There's a bright move, start a war!
It won't stop Sea Shepherd or Greenpeace from trying to stop the Japanese from whaling.
Gary Schmidt
Underwater Times | Japanese Whalers, Greenpeace in Square Off in Ocean Battle Over Whales: "Japanese whaling fleet and Greenpeace environmental activists are involved in a stand-off in the remote Southern Ocean near the coast of Antarctica with the two sides accusing each other of ramming their vessels."
Here's an article that shows some of the particulars about the Whalers and Greenpeace arguing about "who hit who" and "what's what" about the collision(s) that have been going on between the two.
This was so fascinating I had to post it
Gary
Greenpeace defends anti-whaling tactics - Breaking News - National - Breaking News:
"Greenpeace said it welcomed any scrutiny of tactics, including incidents in which a Greenpeace ship and a whaler were involved in a minor collision.
The Japanese whaling industry's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) said its crews were documenting the behaviour of Greenpeace ships Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise, claiming serious violations of maritime laws."
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!
This is so dumb, what basis does Japan really have!
What makes them think that they have so much power or a good enough reason to do what they are and get away with it?
First off, the whaling that they are doing - which they call 'research whaling' - is not needed at all. The major scientific community organizations have said repeatedly before to Japan that the intended 'research' and whaling that they do is not needed. Plus, they won't learn anything new from it really. Also, it might be understood that Japan has an alternate motive for its so-called 'research' whaling and that is because Japan has a big market for whale meat.
Also any of the governing bodies for the control of international whaling such as the IWC or any of the others don't have a means of patrolling and controlling whaling, even though there has been a moratorium on whaling for the past several decades!
Greenpeace and some other organizations closely associated with Greenpeace are the only organizational bodies that are willing and able to patrol the seas and help put an end to unnecessary whaling, which is exactly what Japan is doing!!
If Japan were so concerned with abiding to International Maritime Laws, shouldn't they also be concerned with the laws established by the International Whaling Commission too on the preservation of the whale populations - which are practically on the verge of extinction!
Isn't the preservation of a species of greater worth than worrying about a scratch on a boat!!
NO JAPAN, you cannot pass the blame!! If you weren't out there whaling there wouldn't have been a situation anyways!
Get your priorities straight Japan....
I do not think that Greenpeace was in the wrong, but then again I probably don't know all the specifics about maritime law anyway to make an accurate judgement based solely on that...
Gary Schmidt
The Advertiser: Whaling is butchery - Brown [27dec05]: "GREENS leader Bob Brown has accused Japanese whalers of being D-grade butchers masquerading as scientists."
This is a rather interesting article that totally disses the Japanese "scientific" whaling program.
It also mentions the Grade-A courage of the Greenpeace protestors trying to stop Japanese whaling.
A good article!
Gary
This site has a ton of great photos of, mostly, right whales. Shows the whales in action! They are also very professional looking, and have great colors.
Be sure to check them out!
Gary
There haven't been too many interesting stories to report about whales lately... usually the same old stuff about whales and any events regarding whales has been circulating the web. And that for several weeks. Nothing has occured that seemed break-through, or anything... However this was an interesting story:
Lessons from a whale stranding :: ABC North Coast NSW:
"The death of a female pygmy sperm whale found bleeding from its reproductive organs and wounded by shark bites on a Byron Bay beach this week, was inevitable according to scientists.
The whale was still alive when it beached but died shortly after."
In the lack of any special interest on the web or in the news circulation... if anyone would like to submit to me something that they came accross that would be fabulous!!
I'll take stories about whales in my inbox. Or leave a comment with a link in it and a description and if I find it substantially suitable for feature in the blog I will certainly make a post about it!!
Looking for anything you find about whales and whale watching that it worth posting up in this blog!!
Let me know
Gary
PM: Scientists Track Whales From A Fuji Blimp:
"The blimp is roughly the size of a Boeing 747, but 500 mph slower and, without ballast, lighter than air. This makes it the perfect vehicle for studying another behemoth: whales. Several species of this marine mammal are swimming dangerously close to extinction, but without knowing more about their behavior it's difficult for scientists to help them recover. It has never been easy to observe whales. They don't fit in a lab, and in the wild they spend only about 3 percent of their time at the surface."
A fascinating 3 article series of how several scientists around Cape Cod Bay are learning about whale behavior and studying the whales by tracking them and other things to better help protect the whales and determine how the populations of whales are doing overall.
Gary
New York Daily News - Boroughs - Whale washes up & dies:
"A baby pilot whale that washed ashore on Rockaway Beach died yesterday morning, despite rescuers' desperate efforts to save it.
The 5-year-old, 10-foot-long, 500-pound male whale was first spotted by locals sometime before 7 a.m. yesterday as it lay on the shore just off Beach 102nd St."
This is a sad story about an effort to save a young Pilot Whale that washed ashore, which nonetheless ended when the poor whale died.
Gary
"Small survey planes, daylight and luck have long been the best tools for scientists hoping to spot the rare North Atlantic right whale. The results aren't too impressive.
An estimated one in four whales are spotted by aerial surveys, leaving the rest vulnerable to ship strikes or fishing gear entanglements. But scientists say an underwater listening system they're developing will dramatically improve detection and reduce whale deaths."
Here's a cool new tactic that scientists are trying to help prevent ships from literally crashing into whales... the North Atlantic Right Whale is the one in particular they are trying to protect better - which is one of the most endangered species of whales.
Gary
Cape Argus - Police blow up stranded whale:
"Police today used explosives to kill the Southern Right whale stranded on Mnandi beach, angering many onlookers.
But Nan Rice of the Dolphin Action Group said it was a humane way to put the whale down.
The blast destroyed the top part of the whale's head, bloodying the water.
Robin Adams, deputy manager of the Table Mountain National Park marine area, said it was 'very sad'."
This was a very interesting article that I came accross. Reporting that in South Africa that the police there used explosives to 'humanly' put out a stranded whale in shallow waters there.
The full story about the whole event of stranding and all can be checked out through the link.
Gary Schmidt
