(a humble compact village shrine used for playground, Japan)Whaling
(Der Walfang)
Last night, a Japanese TV news show picked up the whaling issue, since European-Americans and European Australians are physically attacking Japanese officials on board a whaling ship:
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THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
In the second attack in a week, activists aboard the anti-whaling vessel of the Sea Shepherd group hurled bottles and packets of white powder at the Nisshin Maru research whaling ship in Antarctic waters Friday.
The bottles were filled with chemicals, officials said.
Japan Coast Guard members aboard the Nisshin Maru issued radio warnings before responding with seven flash grenades, one of which landed on the deck of the Sea Shepherd's vessel.
No one was injured, Japanese Fisheries Agency officials said.
But a Sea Shepherd member said one activist was slightly injured.
On Monday, activists of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a U.S. anti-whaling group, hurled similar objects at the 8,044-ton Nisshin Maru, slightly injuring a crew member and two Japan Coast Guard members.
"It cannot be forgiven that they try to injure humans in order to protect whales," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Friday. "As a government, we must take necessary measures. We could fire tear-gas bombs if necessary."
The Nisshin Maru is the mother ship of a fleet of research whaling vessels operated by the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research, a body authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to conduct whaling-related research.(IHT/Asahi: March 8,2008) http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200803070323.html
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BBC online presents some information on whaling:
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WHALE FACTS
The IWC moratorium on whale hunting was established in 1986. Since then Norway and Japan have continued to hunt whales.
- Greenpeace estimate that more than 1.5 million whales were killed between 1925, when the first whaling factory ship was introduced, and 1975.
- In 1994 the IWC established a whale sanctuary which permanently banned whaling in the waters around Antarctica.
- The United States lists nine species of whales as endangered.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/whale_hunters.shtml
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However, it is very insufficient and biased, since it lacks the following information:
(1) In late 1970’s, anti-whaling scientist Sidney J. Holt estimated the number of minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean to be just 20,000. However, the International Decade of Cetacean Research conducted by IWC since 1974 found that there were 300,000 minke whales; thus a scientific committee of IWC concluded that there was no need to ban the capturing of minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean.
( http://luna.pos.to/whale/jpn_zat_minke.html )
(2) When US Secretary of Commerce Mr. Norman Mineta visited Japan in January 2001, the Japanese Government told him that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. presented on its Web site the estimated number of sperm whales to be between a million and two million (which is large enough to allow for whaling). But, the next day of this official meeting, this information was deleted from the US Web site.
( http://luna.pos.to/whale/jpn_zat_research.html )
I also recommend BBC staff to check the following site presented by Microsoft:
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“Yankee” or American whaling began about the same time that colonists began to settle in America in the 1600s…
The peak year for American whaling activity was 1846, when 736 vessels and 70,000 people were engaged in the industry. In terms of production, however, sperm oil peaked in 1843, at 19,910,000 liters (5,260,000 gallons), whale oil at 43,884,000 liters (11,593,000 gallons) in 1845, and whalebone at 2,564,000 kg (5,652,000 lb) in 1853.
A gradual decline in whaling activity, which began in 1847, was hastened by the reduction in the numbers of whales of many species, including right whales, gray whales, and humpback whales. This reduction was due to significant overhunting. The decline was also hastened by the introduction of kerosene as a cheap illuminating fuel, the sinking of numerous whaling vessels by Confederate commerce raiders during the American Civil War (1861-1865), and two disasters that destroyed nearly 50 vessels in the Arctic Ocean. The last American whaling vessel sailed in 1928…
n 1931 the 41 factory ships operating in the Antarctic took more than 37,000 whales. This overharvesting led to a catastrophic decline in the price of whale oil. By 1939 the primary whaling nations included Norway, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and The Netherlands. In the early 20th century more than 2 million whales were killed by the modern whaling industry…
The IWC Scientific Committee has stressed that while properly regulated hunting would not represent a threat to the survival of whale populations, other issues must be addressed. These include the by-catch of cetaceans in fishing gear and a number of habitat-related factors, including pollution and habitat degradation, which affect all species, including those for which catch limits would be set to zero given their low abundance.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572529_2/Whaling.html
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Before starting to import and consume a large quantity of beef from the U.S. and Australia, Japanese people traditionally ate meat of whales.
In contrast, US whaling was just aimed at getting whale blubber for use of industrial oil; they dumped meat of a whale to the sea after having taken whale oil.
Generally speaking, cattle look more intelligent than whales; it is truly horrible to kill such an animal, namely a cow with a level of intelligence of a dog and a cat, just for human consumption if you don’t eat a dog or a cat.
A whale returned to the sea from the land tens of millions of years ago to have a shape, which was completed 19 million years ago, as we see today.
Or, you had better think that any cow for beef is as intelligent as a whale for meat.
You should not kill a cow, since Jesus Christ never ate beef though He ate fish often.
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Last night, a Japanese news show program presented a video showing a young Australian activist, though dressed decently, approaching the Japanese Ambassador to Australia at night and speaking to the Ambassador: “Sir, may I kill you for research as you kill whales for research?”
The young European Australian looked like believing himself that he was acting like a man and a hero, though he looked extremely foolish to million TV audiences in Japan, last night.
The New York Times should also take full background research when mentioning this sort of thing.
(Have you ever taken meat of whale flesh?
Apparently, it is more decent than beef, in my opinion.
It will take millions of years more for mankind, except Japanese and other people called Aborigines by biased European races, to really appreciate its taste and quality.
Indeed, great taste cannot be appreciated so easily just like great beautiful of the mind and heart.)
“..it will show all my work and effort is not wasted…”
(Tout mon travail et l'effort ne soit pas gaspillé)