Emotional Anti-Whaling Battle Escalates in Southern Ocean

[Barrett808]

CANBERRA, Australia (ENS) - Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell says Japanese whalers will not be allowed to dock in Australia as long as he is minister.

Japan is about to begin its annual hunt of whales in the Southern Ocean under a provision in the International Whaling Commission regulations that allows for scientific research.

This year Japan plans to kill up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and 10 endangered fin whales. Humpback whales will be targeted in next year's hunt.

A longtime opponent of whaling, Senator Campbell says no Japanese whaling vessel can come in to an Australian port.

"They can only do that with my permission and I will not grant permission to Japanese whaling vessels or support vessels to use Australian ports," he said Wednesday.

(more)

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2007/2007-01-16-04.asp

[catgirl]

1. Isn't Australia A Huge Whaler Too?

In the top five? I'm pretty sure they are.

[Barrett808]

2. Never heard that. Afaik, these are the whaling nations:

Japan
Iceland
Norway
Faroes (Danish)
Various indigenous peoples

[jilln]

3. Info on each of those places and their illegal whale slaughter.

[catgirl]

4. Indiginous Tribes Still Hunt...

therefore some news agencies/groups list the country
they are from such as, the US (Alaska), Canada (the Inuits)
and I believe Australia has been listed in this regard as well.

[Coventina]

6. That's news to me.

Do you have a link?

[catgirl]

9. Aboriginal Whaling

This is a Wikipedia link. It doesn't include all indigenous
groups that hunt. I just saw information regarding a group
in Russia that's not on here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aboriginal_whaling&oldid=92019800

I get e-mails from several groups and I know Australia
was listed on one. Perhaps it was wrong, or they meant
whaling in Australian waters.???

[The Stranger]

5. One man with courage makes a majority.

[architect359]

8. I think that it's more common sense rather than courage

Beside, it's not too courageous to back a policy that most people support already or is sympathetic to. Anyway, imho. Apologies for jumping on the "courage" thing.

[slackmaster]

7. This makes a lot more sense than threatening to ram ships at sea

Kudos to Mr. Campbell.

[InvisibleTouch]

10. Good on him!! n/t

[goforit]

11. Yep... We all have to stand up against destructive forces.

[formercia]

12. I hope New Zealand, Chile and Argentina follow suit

It's a long way to go, even to Tasmania or New Zealand. While in the Navy, I was on a ship that made a half dozen trips to Antarctic waters from New Zealand. It took a full week to get there and the Ocean is very rough. To carry enough fuel to get there and back is problematic, let alone have enough fuel to spend time whaling.