Whaling again

As a follow up to yesterday's post on Whaling I have heard from Andrew on board the Esperanza, the Greenpeace ship. I certainly appreciate the time he has taken to drop by. One of the articles I linked to yesterday looked at how some of the nations in our area would support Japan rather than Australia. In July this year Paula Kruger , in Four Corners ,delved into the situation and there was an allegation of vote buying in the IWC which Jojo Morishita was going to follow up but I do not know if this particular aspect of the anti whaling position has been clarified at all since then:


"PAULA KRUGER: Japan denies allegations of buying the votes of smaller, poorer nations and IWC delegate, Jojo Morishita, says he will look into the claims made to Four Corners."

Japan accused of vote-buying on whaling


The Age also carried a similar article in July and it would appear none of this has been resolved. I am unclear as to why Japan would want to have conservation groups removed from the IWC. If the International Whaling Commission is there to govern the welfare of whales, it needs the expertise of conservationists.


"Japan has repeatedly denied the allegations and has tried to have conservation groups that made them, such as Greenpeace and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, thrown out of the IWC."

Japan 'bought' Pacific votes

Scotsman.com carried a comprehensive article yesterday explaining yet another perspective. IWC does permit research whaling.However, Dr Jonathon Gordon, of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust,believes you need live whales for research:



"He said almost all research needed on whales was best done with live animals, adding: "It is impossible to kill a whale quickly. There will always be a degree of suffering involved. Research needs to be done, but the International Whaling Commission has said it does not need dead whales to do it."

Whalers and protesters clash on high seas



Australia and other anti-whaling nations are not convinced you need to kill 1000 whales to perform scientific research and therefore believe the whaling is for commercial purposes. In any case, Australians and New Zealanders spend much time trying to refloat beached whales and should any nation wish to have whales for scientific purposes I am certain we would allow them access to the beached whales we cannot save. It is heart breaking for people who work around the clock to save whales to find out they came back and beached themselves again and could not be saved.

Here's the link to Andrew and the crew weblog so that you can keep yourself informed of developments:



Greenpeace - Defending our Oceans