We ask Japan to stop all whaling!!!
- by: Citizens of the world, Care2 Members & Sea Shepherd
- recipient: Prime Minister Taro Aso - Japan, Minister of Fisheries - Japan
Anti-whaling conservationists say they are again intent on disrupting Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean and are concerned humpbacks may be included in the hunt this season, for the first time.
Japan's fisheries minister has confirmed the country has sent two ships to keep an eye on anti-whaling activists and says the boats will monitor Sea Shepherd, which has launched two of its own ships to intercept the Japanese fleet.
Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu says Japan will continue to carry out its research program while placing top priority on safety.
The international media director for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Amy Baird, says the move shows the Japanese government is getting frustrated.
- Which whales are endangered?
Minke whale: lower risk, Humpback whale: vulnerable, Blue whale: endangered, Fin whale: endangered, Right whale: endangered (North Pacific and North Atlantic species) and lower risk (Southern species), Sei whale: endangered, Sperm whale: endangered, Bowhead whale: lower risk, Bryde's whale: insufficient data to list, Gray whale: lower risk.
The Australian Government supports an end to all commercial and scientific whaling.
Before the 2007 election Australia said it would take Japan to an international court over whaling. In late June 2009 it was still considering its options.
Australia wants to turn the IWC into a conservation body, while Japan and other whaling nations want to use the body to find sustainable catch limits for whales.
"The nations of the South Pacific strongly support the establishment of a sanctuary to protect great whales in their region. A South Pacific Whale Sanctuary will complement existing whale sanctuaries in the Southern and Indian Oceans," the Australian Government says in a fact sheet.
"The South Pacific is home to all species of great whales found in the Southern Hemisphere. They are blue, fin, sei, southern right, humpback, Bryde's, minke, pygmy right and sperm whales. There are many good reasons to protect these marine creatures, which are still being killed for commercial gain under the guise of 'scientific' whaling."
Japan has repeatedly threatened to include humpbacks in their Antarctic hunt and they use the humpbacks as pawns in the diplomatic process that's underway, for a compromise over commercial whaling," she said.
"And they choose the humpbacks because they are a special species that means a lot to Australians.
"However, what we must remember is that they're already killing nearly 1,000 minke whales and 50 fin whales in Antarctica and these are also beautiful whales," she said.
"Fin whales are the second largest whale and horrific cruelty is involved in killing such a large animal with harpoons and rifles.
"It can take up to half-an-hour, an hour for them to die, very painfully, very slowly.
"So the humpbacks is a major concern, but I think that's more of a political game that Japan's playing. What they are already doing in Antarctica is an atrocity."
Humpback whales have not been in the quota in the past.
The International Whaling Commission met in Seattle on Monday.
At the conclusion of the meeting pro and anti-whaling countries reached a compromise, promising to more effectively conserve whales and "manage" the whaling that is happening in our oceans.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/10/2768292.htm
Ask Japan to stop ALL whaling, sign bellow!!!
As a concerned citizen of the world, I strongly request:
The Japanese government maintains a strong stance on the moratorium on commercial whaling.
That, as a member of the IWC, the Japanese government should reaffirm its commitment to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the Antarctic.
I am particularly concerned about not only minke whales but also endangered humpback whales that tourists have been watching for the last 20 years. These whales come right up to the boats in Australian waters and will be easy targets for Japanese scientific whaling ships. Whale watching has become a $273 million industry annually in Australia and Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters will destroy this thriving industry.
Japans estimate of whale numbers is vastly incorrect since original population numbers were exaggerated by a force of 6-20 according to Professor Stephen Palumbi whose groundbreaking genetic studies show that whale populations are down to 1% of former numbers. Obviously, all whaling worldwide should stop immediately. No whale populations have come even close to recovering from 200 years of commercial whaling. Additionally, whales face serious environmental challenges (noise and chemical pollution, seismic and naval sonar, entanglement in nets, global warming seriously affecting plankton availability, ship strikes, and habitat loss etc) in addition to being slow breeders with a high infant mortality rate.
Another important consideration is the inherent cruelty involved in killing whales. There is no humane way to kill an animal so large. Because of this, whales suffer excruciating deaths, and for what reason? It is not necessary for humans to eat whales for survival. Whales are more than just big fish to be served up in fancy restaurants and school lunch programs. They are highly intelligent, sentient beings.
Finally, the oceans are in a state of collapse. Whales are beneficial to the ocean as their excrement feeds plankton which feeds all fish in the sea and oxygenates the water. Without plankton all fish starve from lack of food and suffocate from lack of oxygen in the water. Already plankton is in serious decline all over the world. If whales are removed, plankton levels will decline even further. If the ocean further degrades to the point where it is dead (as are 160 areas known as dead zones around the world), the availability of atmospheric oxygen will be severely diminished since we rely on oceans for 70-80% of our oxygen. Furthermore, the ocean will offgas CO2 in amounts far greater than all global fossil fuel burning combined. This poses a life-threatening impact for all earth dwellers.
Japan must be made to understand:
a) the precarious state of the oceans ecosystems today brought on mainly by overfishing and whaling;
b) the invaluable part whales play in keeping the oceans healthy;
c) why humans depend for survival on a healthy ocean; and
d) a healthy ocean overrides short-term profits from killing whales.
The IWC has repeatedly criticized and censured Japan over their so-called scientific whaling program because it is totally unnecessary for whale conservation to know the ages of whales in order to set catch quotas. The IWC urges all members to use non-lethal methods but Japan has consistently and flagrantly violated IWC rulings. Instead, Japan is fixated on feeding millions of their people from an ever-dwindling ocean supply to the detriment of the entire ocean. Are they even thinking of a future for planet Earth or just immediate economic advantages?
If you fail to act now, whales may never recover in fact they may become extinct in the world. What a tragic loss that would be and a testament to human stupidity and greed.
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