scientific whaling

Japanese whaling pirates raiding Australia's southern whale sanctuary every year poach all the whales they want, spin their exposed lie of scientific research to a complicit whaling commission bureaucracy that must exist only for the club sandwiches at meetings.

And what has Rudd-the-Dudd done to protect Australia's southern ocean and indeed its sovereignty from raiding Japanese poachers arriving from some 10,000km to the north? Squat, except publicly froth and bubble yet with no action like all his other core and non-core populist empty promises.

Sea Shepherd, in its Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign, has been doing Australia's Naval border protection job for Australia's regional oceans. It's defence vessels, the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker have recently completed their sixth voyage to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to oppose the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling fleet.

"For three straight weeks from February 5th until February 26th we prevented the entire Japanese whaling fleet from killing a single whale. The month before, we had shut the whalers down for twelve days giving us thirty-three solid whaling-free days, which is one-third of their whaling season. In addition, our actions forced the harpoon vessels Shonan Maru 2 and the Yushin Maru 3 to break off from whaling activities to serve as security vessels to oppose Sea Shepherd interventions, and this prevented these two vessels from killing whales for almost the entire season."

In late 2009, it was announced that New Zealand's record breaking Earthrace bio-fuel powerboat, repainted black and named Ady Gil, would be participating in anti-whaling operations under the lead of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

'On January 6, 2010, in blatant disregard for the safety of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society crew, the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru No. 2 attempted to sink the Ady Gil off the coast of Antarctica.

Video taken from the Japanese vessel Shonan Maru 2 confirm that the skipper of the Shonan Maru 2 made a deliberate starboard turn toward the Ady Gil, thus intentionally causing a collision at sea. This Japanese video from the Japanese Shonan Maru 2 is prima facie evidence of Japanese malicious intent to collide:
You Tube video proof of Japanese intent to collide

Refer: Japanese whaler rams and sinks anti-whaling vessel in Antarctic on candobetter.org website by Sheila Newman, 7th January, 2010.

NZ skipper of the Ady Gil at the time of the collision, Pete Bethune, then boarded the Shonan Maru 2 to make a citizen's arrest of the Japanese captain and handed over a $US3 million (NZ$4.5 million) bill for the destruction of protest ship the Ady Gil that sank after a confrontation a month earlier.'

Instead, the Japanese crew arrested Bethune and imprisoned him on the vessel and took him to Japan. Japan charged Bethune with 'trespassing' of all things on the Shonan Maru II, (which was itself trespassing). Japan has charged Bethune as if Japan still considered itself a pre-WWII imperial dictatorship. Japan has charged Bethune with injuring a crewman, obstructing commercial activities, vandalism and carrying a weapon. Pirates enforcing a kangaroo court. If convicted, Bethune could face up to 15 years in jail. And what of the criminal actions of the Japanese skipper of the Shonan Maru 2?

On 25th February 2010, Rudd-the-Dudd apparently 'warned' Japan that "diplomacy comes to an end this year" on whaling, after presenting a bold plan to phase out the controversial killing of hundreds of minke whales in Australia's Southern Ocean.

Rudd-the Dudd then proclaimed for the cameras:

"We are saying loud and clear to our friends in Japan that Australia does not support the continuation of commercial or scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean, we have a very basic position...and that if Japan cannot come forward with a proposal which reduces its current catch to zero over a reasonable period of time, then we have no alternative but to initiate appropriate legal action."

Words Kev! Politics is more than words - re-read the PM governance manual!

Bethune's US lawyer Dan Harris said last night the activist would admit trespass, possession of a weapon, damage to property and obstructing commercial activity, but deny the most serious charge of assault, which was based on allegations that he was responsible for bottles of rancid butter - a stenching agent known as butyric acid - being thrown at Japanese sailors.

Greens Senator Bob Brown says it is horrendous that a New Zealand anti-whaling activist is facing the prospect of a lengthy jail term in Japan.

Senator Brown says it seems to have been forgotten that the Japanese whalers ran down Mr Bethune's ship, the Ady Gil, endangering the lives of the six people on board.

He says Mr Bethune and his crew were almost killed when the Shonan Maru II rammed their ship.

"It's time that Canberra and Wellington took up that matter with the Japanese government and with great vigour prosecute the Shonan Maru's captain and his crew, who took part in that illegal act in destroying the Ady Gil," he said.

Senator Brown is urging Australia take retaliatory legal action.

"The Australian Federal Police and the New Zealand police are investigating that sinking of the Ady Gil and the Australian and New Zealand governments should be pursuing with great vigour that investigation and charges against the whaling fleet," he said.

[Brown wants Australia to retaliate in whaling furore by ABC North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy,2nd April 2010]

And what is Rudd doing to represent the legal welfare of an Australian citizen defending Australia's ecological sovereignty, and illegally captured on the high seas by Japanese whaling pirates?

Rudd is the most anti-Australian prime minister we have the misfortune to have trusted. Rudd should retire and move to East Asia.

In defence of whales from poaching, in light of an Australian Government roaring mouse complicit in its idleness, bring on concerted propeller wrapping of all Japanese vessels till they are immobilised. Old fishing nets with cabling would be effective, especially at night.

I am not in favour of labelling any defence action as "unprovoked". Once the Japanese rocked up to poach whales in the Southern Ocean they themselves provoked justifiable defence - all gloves off!

Defence of whales and defence of Australia's territorial waters and declared whale sanctuary, justify not killing the poachers but immobilizing and disabling their 'capacity to poach'.

A few sunk Japanese ships would bring the issue to a head and get vacillating Chinilpa Rudd off his fence. He should show some leadership by working with NZ and Pacific Ocean nations to place a Oceania-wide moratorium on refuelling, servicing or supply of any Japanese vessel engaged in fishing, whaling research across Oceania. No fuel, no whaling! The whalers cost to run an alternative fuel ship would make their poaching adventure cost prohibitive. A similar ban should apply to Japanese seconding charter aircraft. These naval samurais would then skidaddle back to Japan with their swords between their legs.

Japanese have no place poaching in our Southern Ocean!

Japanese contempt for whales, dolphins and sharks has highlihghted to the world the backward culture of this part of traditional Japanese society. Japanese whalers and fishing corporations have made Japan the pariah of the world's oceans. The Japanese lie of scientific whaling has become a cliched euphemism. Now the science has been officially confirmed as a fraud, as if we didn't already know.

The following article has just been published in the online Science Daily:

JAPANESE LOVE SLAUGHTERING DOLPHINS TOO

Each year at a cove near Taiji on the south east cost of central Japan, thousands of bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales are slaughtered by the Japanese. The cull is endorsed by the Japanese goivernment to commence on 1st September every year.

Bottlenose Dolphin, confimed as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet

Typically, over six months the town's fishermen will catch over 2,000 of Japan's annual quota of 20,000 dolphins.

CALL TO BOYCOTT JAPANESE RESTAURANTS

This slaughter of whales, dolphins and endangered fish such as Bluefin and sharks confirms the barbaric backwardness of traditional cultures in east Asia. Japan clearly is making a point to highlight its backwardness.

Around the world, including in Australia, Japanese restaurants continue to serve up Bluefin Tuna and Shark Fin soup and probably 'scientific' whale meat and dolphin. It is a disgrace!

Bluefin is critically endangered and both the scalloped hammerhead shark and whitetip shark "have seen their numbers drop dramatically since the 1980s, due to rising demand for shark fin soup especially among China's nouveau rich and for fish and chips in Europe. Surging demand for shark fin soup among Asia's booming middle classes is driving many species of these big fish to the brink of extinction."
[Source: 'Sharks threatened by Asian consumers, says Group' Michael Casey, AP, 16 March 2010]

In this March 8, 2010 photo, a woman walks past shark fins displayed in a glass case at a dried seafood shop in Hong Kong. [AP].

The following example Japanese restaurants in Australia sell Bluefin and shark fin. It is time Australians boycotted such trades perpetuating wildlife extinctions.

* SYDNEY: Blue Fin Seafood Restaurant, Brighton-Le-Sands Amateur Fishermans Club, Bestic St
Brighton-Le-Sands NSW 2216

* MELBOURNE: Blue Fin, 342 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065

* BRISBANE: Oishii Sushi Bar Shop2/70 Pinelands Rd Sunnybank Hills Brisbane

One would assume that an organisation entitled the 'Australia Strategic Policy Institute' would be a government body or a body at least having Australia's strategic interests at heart.

But its director, Dr Anthony Bergin, with a title one would assume would be capable of research, has written an article for Fairfax media supporting Japan's strategic interests.
Bergin's article: 'Ban Protest Vessels from using our Ports' dated 16th January 2010 in The Age and duplicated in the Sydney Morning Herald - (Fairfax empire privilege) sides with the Japanese whalers and calls on the Australian Government to support Japan in denying protesters access to Australian ports. Perhaps Dr Bergin should take up residency in Tokyo.

If Dr Bergin were respectful of the democratic rights to protest we have in Australia and recognised the Japanese incursion in Australia's whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean, and respected the existence rights of whales, then perhaps his article for Fairfax would have instead read like this...

The Australian Government has been far too even-handed in its statements about the reckless actions of the Japanese whalers trespassing in the Southern Ocean in breach of commercial whaling prohibitions.

By not condemning this annual intrusion by Japanese ships undertaking commercial whaling, Australia is in effect acquiescing in illegal poaching of whales, while Sea Shepherd does Australia's naval monitoring of illegitimate Japanese whale poachers.

Harassment will not change Japan's position on whaling. And not condemning these Japans actions is counterproductive for Australia trying to secure its protection of endangered whales with the International Whaling Commission.

Australia could legitimately take Japan to court and hold Japan in breach of the Antarctic Treaty at the next meeting of the commission in Morocco in June. Australia could legitimately and formally demand Japan to cease its whaling actions immediately.

Given the public interest in these matters, the Australian Government has sensibly asked the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to examine the recent events in the Southern Ocean. But it is hard to see how, on any reading of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, that the ramming of the Sea Shepherd vessel by the Japanese whaling vessel, could argue his actions were in compliance with it. The Ady Gill was stationary in the water at the time of the ramming and no action was taken by the Japanese whaling vessel to avoid a collision.

To demonstrate that Australia does not support the activities of the Japanese whalers, the Australian Government should ban the entry of its vessels into Australian ports.

In deciding whether to grant consent to vessels to enter its ports, a state is free to impose conditions as it wishes - access to a port of a state is a privilege, not a right. Australia banned port access to Japanese fishing vessels in 1998 when Japan would not agree on a total allowable catch for southern bluefin tuna in the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna. The port access ban was lifted in mid-2001. Why? It is an offence under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act for a whaling vessel to call at an Australian port unless the master has written permission from the environment minister to bring it into the port.

If the Federal Government is serious about ending whaling and shifting the Japanese Government's position - one that has hardened in response - it should directly monitor all whaling activities in the Southern Ocean, follow through on its promise to take legal action against Japan, ban all whaling vessels from Australian ports and ban all use of aircraft from Australian airports for use by Japanese whalers.

Dr Anthony Bergin needs to continue his research and then get back to us with what he has learnt.

In true Ruddism style (hollow popularism) Australia is domestically making noise while doing squat to resolve Japan's state-sanctioned slaughter of endangered whale species or to ethically stand up to an illegitimate foreign aggressor. So year on year, Greenpeace's Sea Shepherd does the dirty work of another Australian government.
So why should Hollywood not sponsor the Sea Shepherd's costs?

Japanese whalers, tens of thousands of miles south of Japan in Australian Antarctic waters and seriously outside any feasible extension of what may constitute 'traditional' Japanese hunting grounds, try to argue on the one hand that:

(1) whaling is a cultural tradition practiced by the Japanese for centuries and so have an inherent right to continue this tradition, then on the other that
(2) Japanese whale hunting is purely scientific

Combined, the two justifications expose the motive as a prima facie fraud and as one more important that the mainstream media have realised. Japan's justifications for whaling are not commercial and not scientific. They are culturally deep and desperately self-preserving, despite being wrong, wasteful and backward.

Proud Japan's once mighty economy overtaking the west through the 1970s and 1980s reached it's inevitable bubble, but the Japanese rebirth in pride since humilating defeat in World War II, could not foresee a second cultural failure.

But when the Japanese real estate and stock price bubble burst in 1990, immediate nation-wide shock and depression ensued lasting throughout the 1990s, which now has been acknowledged as Japan's Lost Decade. Worse for Japanese pride has been its once globally accepted and admired business management practices that have consequently fallen into disrepute internationally. These include Japan's once acclaimed Kaizen management practice, market first product focus, Genbutso Genba (facts, figures and check) learning from competitors, and Hoshin Kanri (process management). So right now, Japanese pride is at an ebb one could say. Then to hammer the nail into the coffin, Japan has seen its historic arch rival, China, recently replace and exceed Japan's economic success.

How is Japan's cultural pride relevant to Japan's whaling activities in the Southern Ocean? Well let's investigate the facts.

Japanese whalers, tens of thousands of miles south of Japan in Australian Antarctic waters and seriously outside any feasible extension of what may constitute 'traditional' Japanese hunting grounds, try to argue on the one hand that (1) whaling is a cultural tradition practiced by the Japanese for centuries and so have an inherent right to continue this tradition, then on the other that (2) Japanese whale hunting is purely scientific - is an exposed prima facie fraud.

Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson, provides an historical synopsis of the Japanese 19th Century commercial interest in whaling in his article of 27 June 2006 'The Truth about "Traditional" Japanese Whaling':

"In the 1890's Japanese man, Jura Oka, made his way to Norway, the Azores, and Newfoundland to study whaling and learn of the commercial rewards. Oka then formed the first Japanese whaling company Hogei Gumi with one vessel, the Saikai-maru, and killed a total of three whales. In 1908 the Nihon Hogeigyo Suisan Kumiai was established (Japanese Whaling Association) with Jura Oka as the first President. In 1908 the association's 12 companies with a total of 28 whaling vessels killed 1,312 whales. The average kill for the next 25 years would be around 1,500 whales.

...The 1930's became the greatest decade of whale slaughter in history. In 1931, 37,438 blue whales were massacred in the Southern Oceans. Japan sent its first ships to Antarctica in 1935. The sale of whale oil helped to finance the invasion of Manchuria and China. In 1937 alone, more than 55,000 whales were slaughtered yielding 3 million tons of animals."

Post World War II, America's General Douglas MacArthur, encouraged the revitalisation of a defeated and demoralised Japan.

"In 1946, General Douglas MacArthur proposed the creation of a Japanese whaling fleet to secure protein for the conquered Japanese people. He did so in order to cut down on the United States' costs of transporting food to post war Japan. On August 6th 1946 MacArthur signed the directive authorizing two factory ships and twelve catcher boats to begin whaling in the Antarctic for the 1946-47 season. The deal was that Japan would get the meat and the oil would be turned over to the United States. The United States provided $800,000 in fuel for the ships and received over 4 million dollars in whale oil in return.

The two ships sent down to Antarctic waters were the Hashidate Maru and the Nishin Maru."

Do these vessel names sound familiar?

"The brutal killing of whales has become an icon for the Japanese identity. This is not unusual. Japan has always closely identified with blood and slaughter. From the decapitations by the Samurai upon innocent peasants to the suicidal insanity of the Kamikaze, violence and self destruction have been a part of Japanese culture."

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With Japan's Samurai culture castrated, its military culture castrated, its economic miracle failed, what pride can traditional Japanese otherwise cling to?

Few eat whale meat in Japan. The scientific research of whales is only an excuse so that that Japan can claim to be technically complying with the Antarctic Treaty. But the activity is one of lost Samurais with no other quest. It's all really quite sad for Japan and symptomatic of a once proud people having become culturally lost.