Japan announces it has harpooned 333 whales in Antarctic waters; conservationists outraged

Monday, March 28th 2016 - 05:55 UTC

Full article 6 comments

The Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR), the body behind the Japanese government’s whaling program, announced the return of the Japanese whaling fleet from its Antarctic operations. It is the first time that the Japanese whalers have returned to the Southern Ocean to slaughter whales since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled its whaling program to be illegal in 2014. Read full article

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Briton
Just my humble opinion,

but it should be banned.
Mar 28th, 2016 - 06:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Voice
Shame on the Aussies for not releasing the information for Sea Shepherd to intercept...
Mar 29th, 2016 - 12:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Lucifer
There's plenty of whales around 300+ gone won't make a difference.
Mar 29th, 2016 - 12:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Skip
Thanks Voice, however the Australian government isn't like many governments that acts first and then lives with the consequences later.

I am fully supportive of what Sea Shepherd does and I wish my government would just send the RAN in with a few torpedoes that will fix this problem for ever.

However that won't happen.

Releasing information for the sole purpose that a group will use that information could lead to the Commonwealth being complicit in any subsequent adverse results such as a death etc.

The Australian government is by its nature conservative. I don't mean the simplistic conservative in the sense of left and right politics but conservative in thinking before acting and being slow to a path of action.
Mar 30th, 2016 - 03:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Britworker
@4
I suppose we could have done something similar 100 times in our history. What you said amounts to looking the other way. Australia should have acted here in their area of interest.

There are enough of these amazing animals being found dead on beaches full of plastic without standing by and watching people arbitrarily kill them.
Mar 30th, 2016 - 07:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Skip
Australia has not looked the other way. Australia has just not jumped into an ill thought out populist move by a pressure group.

The area Japan caught whales in is Australia's Antarctic Territory. However thanks to other governments we cannot exercise full sovereignty over the waters there as Japan does not recognise our sovereignty. We have also agreed to not exercise our full sovereignty on that continent.

As it is Antarctica, other countries are welcome to step in and attempt to restrict Japan's whaling.

However last time I checked, it was only Australia that took Japan to the ICJ in 2010 to stop it whaling.

And won!

How many other countries have done that? None that I know of.... guess for all other countries, that “amounts to looking the other way”.

Australia is now considering other legal avenues since Japan withdrew the ICJ's ability to rule on this area. I have yet to hear other countries doing the same.
Mar 30th, 2016 - 09:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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