Guest guest Posted August 9, 2001 Report Share Posted August 9, 2001 * SWK and List Info In Footer * ...... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... Japan Expands Whale Hunt Again http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?id=5081 >From WDCS Thursday, August 09, 2001 BATH, UK - The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) calls upon member governments of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to react in the strongest possible manner to yesterday's announcement by Japan that their " research " whaling fleet in the North Pacific killed 159 whales, almost double the number taken in last year's so-called scientific hunt. The Japanese factory whaling vessel, the Nissei-Maru, returned to port after two months in the North Pacific, carrying on-board the carcasses of minke whales, Bryde's whales, sperm whales, and even an endangered sei whale, mistakenly killed when it was mis-identified by the whalers as a Bryde's whale. The announcement of the kills comes less than two weeks after the International Whaling Commission meeting in which the Japanese " research " whale kill was roundly criticised, and a resolution was passed urging Japan to refrain from such hunts. " The IWC has gone on record to state that the data collected by the Japanese whaling fleet is 'not essential' to any mangement of whaling, nor is the data gathered 'sufficient to justify the killing of these whales for research purposes', " said Kate O'Connell of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. " Japan's decision to escalate its whale kills is absolutely unacceptable in terms of science, and as an act of political bad faith. WDCS asks that governments party to the IWC make their disapproval known in the most vocal and stringent terms. In particular, WDCS calls on President Bush of the United States to revisit the possibility of applying economic sanctions against Japan, under the terms of the Pelly Ammendment. " The fact that a sei whale was mistakenly killed also serves to highlight the difficulties with controlling whaling. " If seasoned whalers cannot distinguish between species of whales that they are targeting, how can they expect us to trust in their ability to protect highly endangered sub-groups within the same species? " questions Niki Entrup of WDCS Germany. DNA tests of whalemeat sold in Japanese restaurants have already revealed a glaring loophole in Japan's regime of whale catches that could drive a unique sub-group of minke whales to extinction. Japan's North Pacific hunt mainly targets minke whales, of which there are two stocks, or sub-groups. While much of the hunt focuses on the " O " stock of minke whales, there is another sub-group known as the " J " stock. The " J " stock, which lives in the Sea of Japan, numbers fewer than 2,000 individuals, and is considered to be increasingly threatened by both direct whaling, as well as by entanglement in fishing gear. According to genetic studies undertaken in 2000, " J " stock whales comprise nearly a third of all the whalemeat derived from North Pacific minkes on sale in Japanese markets. " By the time a positive identification of a species or sub-group has been made by Japan's lethal research whalers, it is too late...another endangered animal has been lost, only to end up as gourmet sushi. The costs of such whaling are simply too high in terms of conservation, and, as the IWC itself has so emphatically pointed out, Japan's lethal scientific whaling is simply unnecessary. It must stop. " For further information contact: In the UK: Mark Simmonds tel 44 (0) 1225 334511 or marks In Germany: Niki Entrup tel 089 6100 2395 or nentrup In the US: Kate O'Connell tel 860 236 1521 or kayo For more information, contact: Mark Simmonds of Science WDCS +1225 334511 marks Web site: http://www.wdcs.org ========================= http://24hour.modbee.com/24hour/healthscience/story/650848p-695791c.html California whale-watchers delight in blue whale sightings 2001 Nando Media 2001 Scripps Howard News Service By EMILY VIZZO, Scripps Howard News Service CHANNEL ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (SH) - More than 100 blue whales - the biggest creatures ever to inhabit the Earth, bigger than dinosaurs ever were, with tongues weighing as much as an elephant and hearts the size of a VW Beetle - are delighting whale-watchers as they dine in the krill-filled waters just off San Miguel Island. Sometime during the last week of July, between 100 and 200 blue whales congregated off the point, around the back side of wind-blasted San Miguel island, the westernmost of the five islands comprising Channel Islands National Park. " It isn't all that unusual, but for this year it's been unusual, " said Fred Benko, owner of the Condor, a Santa Barbara-based whale-watching vessel. " We will often get 100 animals at a time, or even more than that, but this year we haven't had that happen. " This year's summer whale-watching season has been a good one. Lower sea temperatures have favored the floating red masses of tiny krill that whales feast on, enticing the massive mammals to hang around. The blues first appeared consistently in local waters in 1991. Their relatively recent presence in the channel might be an indication of abundant krill, a dearth of food elsewhere or an increased whale population. After Condor captain Ron Hart noticed the blues appearing regularly and in large numbers, the Condor's blue whale watching trips were born - and the response has been enormous. " We were getting calls from Japan, " Hart said. " People calling and saying, 'Are they still there?' " Not only are the whales still here, but Hart estimates that locally their numbers are increasing at 8 percent a year. " This is by far the largest, healthiest population anywhere in the world, " he said. Blue whales can reach 100 feet in length and weigh up to 180 metric tons. They feed primarily on krill - tiny shrimp-like crustaceans. The krill are plentiful this season, partly because of lower ocean temperatures, which they prefer; and partly due to nutrient-rich currents which have created an abundance of microscopic phytoplankton for the krill to feed on. The blues probably congregated at San Miguel because of a heavy krill concentration there. Meanwhile, boats like the 88-foot Condor patrol the islands daily, laden with camera-toting whale-watchers happily staggering around the decks. When they're not admiring the hundreds of dolphins surfing the wake and launching perfect arcs, they scan the horizon with binoculars for the tell-tale puff of a whale's spout. " When they're feeding, from a distance it looks a bit like a water fountain, " Hart said. " You see a bunch of misty blows. Then, when they come up to the surface, it's like a train going by under water. " Although they are frequently spotted in the channel and around the islands, blue whales aren't making as snappy a comeback from pre-exploitation numbers as they should be, according to ranger Bill Faulkner at the Channel Islands National Park visitor center in the Ventura Harbor. When animals such as the blue whales are recovering from a period of exploitation, Faulkner explained, their numbers are expected to increase at a certain rate - particularly when their habitat is intact, as is the case with the Channel Islands. " We're not seeing that increase worldwide, " Faulkner said. Faulkner said he worries that the moratorium on whale hunting established by the International Whaling Commission 15 years ago is crumbling. Norway and Japan, countries where whale-hunting occurs, weaken the agreement, he says. " It took a concerted effort to save these animals, " Faulkner said. " We're going out on these trips and enjoying the fruits of someone else's labor, so to speak. We need to keep the effort going. " ======================= Trashing our own backyard -- We're still oceans away from understanding the sea's vulnerabilities ---------- ---- Story Filed: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 4:41 PM EST Aug 09, 2001 (The Christian Science Monitor via COMTEX) -- Since ancient times, people have thought of the oceans as being too vast and powerful for us to possibly damage. The oceans, so much larger than we are, could take care of themselves. Over the past two decades, a series of ecological disasters has proved that assumption wrong. Sewage and fertilizer runoff have rendered the Black Sea hospitable only to algae slicks and jellyfish. Coral reefs are dying all over the world from pollution and overheated seawater. The Grand Banks, one of the greatest fisheries the world has known, has been closed for lack of fish. Now that the scale of the human enterprise is large enough to disrupt entire marine ecosystems, we need to start understanding how the oceans work. We know surprisingly little about marine systems, and we need to do our homework if we are to avert the destruction of one of our planet's greatest resources. Drawing on the latest scientific research in marine ecology, biology, and geology, physical and chemical oceanography, Deborah Cramer has produced an exhaustive description of the inner workings of the Atlantic Ocean. From the violent geological forces that created the Atlantic to the breeding habits of sea turtles, " Great Waters " is a digest of recent scientific inquiry into ocean systems. Cramer's tour reveals how human activities have left almost no aspect of the Atlantic untouched. Whales die from eating herring whose bodies are laced with PCBs and other toxins. The tiny marine algae at the bottom of the food chain respond poorly to increased ultraviolet radiation from the ozone hole. The earth may plunge into an ice age if the greenhouse effect melts polar ice caps, slowing the great oceanic currents that act as the planet's radiator. But this is a book that would have benefited from an attentive editor. Cramer's prose often reads like bad poetry, unrelenting in its effort to force symbolic poignancy from each and every fact and observation. She witnesses a man-overboard drill at sea: The person floats awkwardly in her bulky survival suit awaiting rescue. This leads Cramer to observe: " How much better suited to water environs, how much more at home, are the fish. " She then actually sets out to prove this point over several paragraphs with sentences like: " The sea challenges our ability to breathe. " Cramer is a lot better at explaining the social behaviors of fish and whales than those of people. Reading " Great Waters, " you'd think that every fisherman in the world works on a large trawler, dragging the seafloor for bottom fish. It's true that large draggers destroy the bottom and sweep up and kill millions of small or unwanted fish every day, turning fishing into not " a harvest, or even a hunt, but a slaughter. " But to paint Maine lobstermen and clam diggers, Micronesian throw-net fishermen, or Newfoundland hook-and-line men with the same brush is neither fair nor accurate. Later, we're treated to a long diatribe about how GPS satellite navigation systems have separated us from the larger world and denied us a " mythic sense of the connection of life and liquid. " These are the words of someone who lacks an appreciation for the connection between knowing your location on the sea and keeping yourself and your crew alive in a raging storm or blinding fog. But if you hold your breath long enough to get past this book's shortcomings, you'll learn a great deal about the state of the oceans. Colin Woodard is the author of 'Ocean's End: Travels Through Endangered Seas' (Basic Books). Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage By Deborah Cramer W.W. Norton 442 pp., $27.95 By Colin Woodard © Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor ================================== http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20010808/view06.htm Papua New Guinea: Whaling is cruel ON behalf of the members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), I would like to congratulate the Government on its opposition to the reintroduction of whaling. Whaling is cruel and it is unnecessary and it is strongly opposed by most countries of the world. It is the hope of the RSPCA that Papua New Guinea continues to express its opposition to whaling and not to change its mind through some countries offering monetary incentives and other " presents " . Justice T. A Hinchliffe President, RSPCA PNG Mt Hagen =================================== Japan lauds whaling haul http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,533552,00.html Special report: Japan Jonathan Watts in Tokyo Wednesday August 8, 2001 The Guardian Japanese whalers received a hero's welcome yesterday when they returned to port from a three-month " scientific " hunt with the carcasses of 158 whales that will be sold off as gourmet meat and blubber. Government officials presented bouquets to the 180 crew members of the Nisshin Maru, who celebrated their larger-than-expected catch with a breakfast of beer and whale sashimi. Despite condemnation from conservation groups who claim that Japan's research kills are a front to sustain the nation's whaling industry, government officials congratulated the harpoon fleet and vowed to protect its activities. " We are committed to continue the whaling programme because our research benefits the marine resources of the entire world, " said Yoshiaki Watanabe, the head of the fishery agency, during a welcome ceremony on board the 7,575-tonne ship at the Oi docks in Tokyo. The Nisshin Maru was the last of a six-vessel fleet to return from a controversial hunt in the north-west Pacific. Equipped with new high-powered harpoons, the fleet took 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales and eight sperm whales. This was eight more than its target and a substantial increase in the number of Bryde's and sperm whales, both of which are designated as protected species by many countries. Japan is a signatory to a moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place since 1987, but it continues to kill about 500 of the mammals each year in the name of research. As usual, the quarry brought in yesterday will be sold this morning at the huge Tsukiji fish market at high prices to representatives of restaurants and supermarket chains. According to the Japan Whaling Association, more than 2,500 tonnes of whale meat were consumed in the country last year. At a wholesale level, this industry is estimated to be worth 4bn yen (£22 million) a year. " Japan's claim to be conducting research is deceitful, " said Motoji Nagasawa of Greenpeace Japan. " This is a lucrative commercial operation that is subsidised by the government to sustain the market for whale meat even though most Japanese are indifferent. " At a meeting in London last month of the International Whaling Commission, Japan resisted calls for an end to scientific hunts. ========================== Gray Whales with Winston http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1953/index.html _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp To change list options, or , go to http://www.topica.com. Or send e-mail to swk-, swk-. Visit our site: http://www.stopwhalekill.org .... Ask a friend today to join our list! ... ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE http://topica.com/u/?b1demT.b1jvh4 Or send an email swk- This email was sent to: tacitus T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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