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Sorry to get political but the Japanese have just resumed hunting for Humpback whales . I was lucky eough to see two humbacks breaching when I joined a whale watching trip from Sydney in June- it was a beautiful afternoon and its sad to think that the mother and calf we saw could well not see out the year.

Please help, as I said, I'm not a political animal but this (like most Australians) gets to me big time.

Spread the word, put a message or logo on your websites or blogs (that's how I discovered IFAW's website)

Thanks
New Mac Girl, Sydney, Australia

http://www.stopwhaling.org/site/c.f...ow__International_Fund_for_Animal_Welfare.htm

Instead of trying to save the whale, why dont we just hit the root cause of the problem and blow the countrys up that are doing the wrong?

Much more simple, quicker and cheaper.

Stick a harpoon through thier necks and see how they like it.
 
Instead of trying to save the whale, why dont we just hit the root cause of the problem and blow the countrys up that are doing the wrong?

Much more simple, quicker and cheaper.

Stick a harpoon through thier necks and see how they like it.
You don't think that's just a tad extreme? :p
 
Instead of trying to save the whale, why dont we just hit the root cause of the problem and blow the countrys up that are doing the wrong?

Much more simple, quicker and cheaper.

Stick a harpoon through thier necks and see how they like it.

Indeed. Just like hitting the root cause of terrorism and blow the "countrys" up that are doing the wrong.

Just to ask - Did that go well? I've not been paying attention.
 
Instead of trying to save the whale, why dont we just hit the root cause of the problem and blow the countrys up that are doing the wrong?

Much more simple, quicker and cheaper.

Stick a harpoon through thier necks and see how they like it.

That is wrong and sad. If you eat the meats of the people that you harpoon thought maybe I would not object it so much. :p
 
That is wrong and sad. If you eat the meats of the people that you harpoon thought maybe I would not object it so much. :p

Seriously - with all that XX pounds of gasoline for X pounds of cow meat statement - Even if humans did taste great - you think lots of energy goes into cows? How much would we waste on human farms? Tack on the cost of education, cable, electricity, clothes, computer, ipod, car -- you're going to have one seriously expensive steak come butcher time.

By comparison, cows are hugely efficient "green" hybrid meat-factories.
 
Hi Thanks for the reply. You are doing great work, I have seen your stopwhaling.org on a few Australian websites so its good to see word is getting out.
I haven't seen Rudd or Howard being asked any questions on whaling during any press conferances, but confess I haven't watched that many.
I would like to know what each parties policies are on this and what they will do. They both seem quite spineless though.

Thanks NewMacGirl
It is really great for us to see the response from people and the discussion this has raised. If you take the action on the www.stopwhaling.com.au site you will get a response as to the parties position.
Just to give you an overview, Labor have committed to increased action to monitor and possible legal action. The Greens are also committed to taking legal action but Malcolm Turnbull (libs) only commit to ongoing diplomatic efforts which lets face it... haven't worked so far.

Just a few points I've noticed that some people have taken the stance this is an anti-Japanese issue, which it is definitely not.
IFAW and many others who have taken a stance on this do not oppose aboriginal subsistence whaling such as is practiced by Alaska natives and others.
You really cannot call sending a fleet of ships with grenade tipped harpoons to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (note the name people) a cultural tradition.
Also the 50 humpbacks on the kill list are considered an 'at risk' species... so is that what we should do with all species. Wait until they recover enough not to be endangered and then start slaughtering them again?
I don't think anyone buys the 'scientific research' excuse.

Wherever you stand on this issue remember it is not the Japanese people that the protest is aimed at.
 
Seriously - with all that XX pounds of gasoline for X pounds of cow meat statement - Even if humans did taste great - you think lots of energy goes into cows? How much would we waste on human farms? Tack on the cost of education, cable, electricity, clothes, computer, ipod, car -- you're going to have one seriously expensive steak come butcher time.

By comparison, cows are hugely efficient "green" hybrid meat-factories.

Indeed, cost of energy is a hard thing to calculate because everything is so interconnected. On this topic, if whale consumption did some how go up, that would decrease beef consumption. Would that lead to less energy consumption by cattle ranchs? How much energy is used to catch one whale? Gasoline for transport? Calories of energy consumed by whalers and ranchers? The question could go on and on.

I was thinking more in the line of, if soldiers were forced to eat the meat of their enemies they kill maybe it would be nasty enough to end wars. :p
 
I was thinking more in the line of, if soldiers were forced to eat the meat of their enemies they kill maybe it would be nasty enough to end wars. :p

It would certainly make North Korea and China breath a little easier - who would want to fight those people? We'd only wage war against tasty countries - like Italy. Who wants to eat human that tastes like smog, mercury and smelly pond water? That's also why we will never be successfully invaded - foreigners know what we Americans eat - and they ARE health-conscious. No way they'd even try it.

In the hypothetical Steven Segall scenario - war would be over quickly. Super chef from Under Siege who is also super special forces. He'd kill a ton of people, and could serve em up nice and tasty - so doubtful he'd experience a change of heart.

The flip side is America would fail miserably. They'd go on a shock and awe slaughter fest - stuff themselves eating the first attack wave, and fall into a Thanksgiving coma - we'd be ambushed by dinner. The only way we could win - would be sending in an army of Turkeys - for operation "Human Shield" - let the enemy beat and consume them. While they're fighting, cut off the water supply - and pipe in Hood Egg Nog. Then, make our move, with trucks of Red Bull in convoy.
 
Just a few points I've noticed that some people have taken the stance this is an anti-Japanese issue, which it is definitely not.
IFAW and many others who have taken a stance on this do not oppose aboriginal subsistence whaling such as is practiced by Alaska natives and others.
You really cannot call sending a fleet of ships with grenade tipped harpoons to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (note the name people) a cultural tradition.
Also the 50 humpbacks on the kill list are considered an 'at risk' species... so is that what we should do with all species. Wait until they recover enough not to be endangered and then start slaughtering them again?
I don't think anyone buys the 'scientific research' excuse.

Wherever you stand on this issue remember it is not the Japanese people that the protest is aimed at.

That may be your/the organisation's stated intention, but as written previously you can take a leaf from the fishing disputes within Europe as an example - the disputes are nominally of a procedural nature or intended to preserve stocks across a wide range, but for the affected countries it can become a nationalist agenda. And that's just for a drastic reduction in the catch - not a complete cessation.

Aboriginal whaling is totally removed from the issue. Analyzing the Western news and responses from the general populace of those countries it would not be difficult to come to the conclusion that the protests are indeed aimed at Japanese people in a way that it would not be for 'one of us'. This, as once again written previously, gives power to those who choose to make this political ammunition.

Without subsidies from the government, there is not enough money in the industry to support whaling on a commercially basis at all. The key to getting Japan to stop whaling is to diffuse the nationalist ties of this issue, and to diffuse the disproportionate link that has to getting politicians elected / staying in power and providing those subsidies. If that happens, the whaling communities will die a slow death, as many other fishing communities have done all over the world - but they will die. Part of it is also education of the affected communities: e.g. As incredible as it may be to you, many in those communities believe that overfishing is due to whales, not humans.

Getting them to stop whaling because the creatures are majestic, brainy or cute - which is essentially the stance that many of these laughably fluffy organisations take - will not cut much mustard. That only works if you're e.g. Koala cute.
 
Getting them to stop whaling because the creatures are majestic, brainy or cute - which is essentially the stance that many of these laughably fluffy organisations take - will not cut much mustard. That only works if you're e.g. Koala cute.

True but no organisation or protest will work if you try to alienate an entire nation. As I said the Japanese freinds I have are disgusted at their governments stance but it is the Japanese Governmnets stance no less. To get an elected government to change a policy takes the people who put that government in power in the first place, the voters. If the people voting demand an end to whaling then the government may change policy or risk being defeated.

It looks like labor have won the Australian election. One positive is that they say they will stop whaling if they can.
 
You do realize, one of the reasons Australia oppose whaling is the fear of revenues from exporting beef to Japan going down. Aussie beef is hard, dry and a little stinky compared to the juicy American counterpart so maybe massaging those cows could help dissuade them whalers.

Contrary to popular belief, racism do play a role in anti-whaling. In some countries it's a sin to eat pork or beef. You don't hear those countries complain to the other countries that do eat them. To them, the thinking of whales somehow being superior to cows would be the same as, how whites are superior to people of ther colors, cause they see whales as just another natural resource.

The best way to fight whaling is probably to invite Japanese tourists to go whale watching. Sending navy to monitor their activity is really pointless other than creating unnecessary friction. Just hope that they don't go eating whale meat back at their home cause I hear some parts taste really good.

Mm.. the left over turkey tastes different after reading your comment.
 
You do realize, one of the reasons Australia oppose whaling is the fear of revenues from exporting beef to Japan going down. Aussie beef is hard, dry and a little stinky compared to the juicy American counterpart so maybe massaging those cows could help dissuade them whalers.

Hey, Australia could even try and outdo the poshest Japanese beef in that respect - I got a fantastic idea!

"This is delicious! Is this Kobe beef, the world-famous cows reared by having beer massaged onto them?"
"Nah mate, we just pelt them with open tinnies!"
 
You do realize, one of the reasons Australia oppose whaling is the fear of revenues from exporting beef to Japan going down. Aussie beef is hard, dry and a little stinky compared to the juicy American counterpart so maybe massaging those cows could help dissuade them whalers.

Wow... Interesting theory. Complete nonsense but interesting all the same...

Sesshi completely agree with your point that education of communities involved is part of the solution and IFAW Japan are attempting to do just that.
 
It would be a real shame if the whaling vessel were to sink somehow.
zoom.gif


Saw it, loved it, had to post it in this thread. (the title of it was "karma" by the way)
 
"iBlue;Saw it, loved it, had to post it in this thread. (the title of it was "karma" by the way)"

Updated for Accuracy:
 

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Sorry to get political but the Japanese have just resumed hunting for Humpback whales . I was lucky eough to see two humbacks breaching when I joined a whale watching trip from Sydney in June- it was a beautiful afternoon and its sad to think that the mother and calf we saw could well not see out the year.

Please help, as I said, I'm not a political animal but this (like most Australians) gets to me big time.

Spread the word, put a message or logo on your websites or blogs (that's how I discovered IFAW's website)

Thanks
New Mac Girl, Sydney, Australia

http://www.stopwhaling.org/site/c.f...ow__International_Fund_for_Animal_Welfare.htm

<pseudo aliased post removed>
 
I try to keep updated with the hunt (of the Japanese whaling ships by the Sea Shepherd Society) whenever I can. I hope someone donates a whole load of fuel so they can stop them all season.

I'm also hoping the Australian customs vessel is going to record some decent evidence to use in a world court.

I think the difference between a whale and a cow is vast, the fact that whales and dolphins are not unlike us and quite intelligent should make the case alone. However if they insist they have a right, I suggest they start a whale breeding farm, should take them about 50 years to get something worthwhile... :rolleyes:
 
I heard an interview on The Jeremy Vine show (its on BBC Radio 2 listen again now) with a Japanese Government Minister and he was being asked about the purpose of the "Research" and after minutes trying to evade the question on well what are you trying to "Research" the best he could come up with was the they needed to study the Whales Ear Wax.. Why? Well apparently you can tell how old a Whale is by its ear wax..so the research is to find out how old the whales are and to do that they must kill them, Jeremy put it to this guy taht it was nonsense and he was almost lost for words as he had been backed into a corner and his credibility was in shatters. That is total rubbish as there are other ways to tell the age of a whale like how big it is. The minister also said that they were forced by the world wide whaling bodies to sell the whale meat and that they only used the profits from the whale meat to sustain the research programe!!Jeremy Vine clearly did not believe the Japanese Minister and he he didn't hide the fact that he thought it was total B.S.

To hear the show (you can fast forward until you find it if you want) visit this page, the go to Wednesday's show (its only up until this wednesday though)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/vine/



The telephone callers after it were mostly saying that we should boycott Japanese products and then someone who had friends in Japan said people, particularly the younger Japansese just don't eat whale meat anymore.

Funny that the holding of the Sea Shepeard activists totally backfired on the Japanese as it brought the world's attention onto what they were doing. And the world doesn't like what its seeing.

Shame on the Japanese Government
 
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