Bungling whalers' Migaloo moan

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http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22745518-5005941,00.html

 

Bungling whalers' Migaloo moan

 

By Saffron Howden and Denis Peters

 

November 13, 2007 12:00am

 

BUMBLING Japanese whalers have been forced to issue an embarrassing

clarification after indicating they were prepared to kill rare white whales such

as Migaloo in the name of " science " .

 

The bizarre clarification means that albino whales are safe this summer as the

Japanese whaling fleet readies itself to sail.

 

As thousands of humpbacks make the annual migration south to Antarctica - some

of them dropping in to Sydney Harbour on their way - the whaling fleet is set to

leave Japan for the Southern Ocean.

 

The departure date is confidential, but rumour has it the ships could leave as

early as Thursday - with a mandate to kill about 1000 whales, including - for

the first time - 50 humpbacks.

 

Yesterday it emerged the Japan Fisheries Agency had refused to rule out

harpooning rare white whales, including the famous Migaloo which is tracked

along the Australian East Coast by whale enthusiasts every year.

 

 

The last known sighting of the adult male humpback was in late September off

Byron Bay on the NSW North Coast.

 

Migaloo is expected to have reached Antarctica by now.

 

A spokesman for Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research in New Zealand, Glenn

Inwood, said the notion Migaloo would be hunted was " absurd " .

 

" Of course, if there was a albino whale around the research wouldn't be

undertaken, " he said.

 

" It's understood how much Australians have been promoting Migaloo, so it's

absurd really. "

 

But Mr Inwood defended Japan's scientific whaling program, which allows them to

hunt the sea giants despite a world-wide ban on commercial whaling.

 

" We'll take up to 50 humpbacks from Antarctica this year - well within the

limits of sustainability, " he said.

 

Renewed concern over Japan's whale hunt came as Sydneysiders were yesterday

treated to a glimpse of a mother and calf humpback pair just off Rose Bay in the

city's east.

 

Anthony Hopewell and two commercial diving colleagues were lucky enough to get

front-row seats to the two-whale show.

 

The divers were changing a marker buoy when the whales surfaced.

 

It was only Mr Hopewell's second sighting of a whale in 16 years working on the

Harbour.

 

" They were breaching and blowing water. "

 

The largest number of humpbacks seen since the '50s - almost 10,000 - have

travelled down the east coast this year.

 

They spend the winter breeding in warm waters north of Queensland and the summer

in Antarctica.