As the weather cools in the northern hemisphere the most southern continent gets the slightest bit hospitable and the war against mother nature begins again. For those new to gCaptain here’s a recap of last year’s events: [Continue Reading →]
Cruising Antarctica 2009 – Cruise Ship Groundings, Whaling and Anti-Whaling
Tags: · antarctica, Antarctica 2009, Greenpeace, whaling
Australia’s Shocking Footage of Japanese Whaling – Video
(If Video becomes “unavailable” try HERE or HERE)
Australia has released graphic pictures of minke whales caught by a Japanese hunt in the Antarctic.
Canberra claimed the pictures, taken by customs officers tracking the hunt, show a harpooned mother and calf being dragged from the sea.
Japan denied that claim and called the pictures “emotional propaganda”.
Australian environment minister Peter Garrett said he hoped the “distressing” images would boost international opposition to the whale hunt.
Mr Garrett said they contradicted Japan’s long-standing claim that the hunt was legal and for scientific research purposes.
“It is explicitly clear from these images that this is indiscriminate killing of whales, where you have a whale and its calf killed in this way,” he said.
“And to claim that this is in any way scientific is to continue the charade that has surrounded this issue from day one.” Continue Reading…
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Tags: · australia, Greenpeace, Japan, whales, whaling
Rubbish Soup – Plastic At Sea
Bitterend found this great image of so called “Rubbish Soup”. They tell us;
“The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world’s largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting “soup” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.” “The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.”
Click the image for the full sized version, click HERE for an alternate version then view the related article HERE.
Thanks Richard!
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Tags: · flotsam, Greenpeace, marine-pollution, marpol, plastic
Activists Held Hostage By Whalers
In breaking news from the Antarctic Japanese whalers have taken two activists hostage after they boarded the whaling ship Yushin Maru. The BBC tells us;
The Sea Shepherd campaign group said the two – a Briton and an Australian – had been assaulted and tied to the radar mast by the Japanese crew.
They said they wanted charges of kidnap to be filed in Australia.
Minoru Morimoto, of the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), admitted the pair had been detained but denied they had been assaulted or harmed.
He said the Sea Shepherd’s accusations that the two men were tied up were “completely untrue”.
“It is illegal to board another country’s vessels on the high seas. As a result, at this stage, they are being held in custody while decisions are made on their future,” he added.
You can read the full report HERE and watch the video HERE.
UPDATE 17Jan:
The AP wire tells us:
Australia said Thursday it would send a ship to pick up two anti-whaling activists who jumped on a Japanese harpoon vessel from a rubber boat in Antarctic waters, offering a solution to a tense, two-day standoff on the high seas.
The protesters from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society scored a victory with their stunt, bringing Japan’s whale hunt to a standstill while officials scrambled to resolve the faceoff.
The Australian customs ship Oceanic Viking will pick up the two activists, an Australian and a Briton, and return them to their anti-whaling vessel as soon as the details can be arranged, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said. Continue Reading…
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Tags: · antartica, arrest, Greenpeace, ISPS Code, Japan, sea shepard, southern ocean, whaling
Australia Sends Armed Merchant Ship To Track Whalers
Reuters has an update on Australia’s recent attempts to track Japan’s whaling fleet:
CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) — An Australian fisheries ship has begun pursuing Japan’s whaling fleet near Antarctica to gather evidence for an international court challenge to halt the yearly slaughter, officials said Wednesday.The icebreaker Oceanic Viking, used for customs and fisheries policing, left a base near Perth on Tuesday to track the fleet in the Southern Ocean for up to 20 days, a Home Affairs Ministry spokeswoman said.
The vessel has stowed arms below deck to avoid a confrontation, but Australian customs officials on board plan to gather photographic and video evidence of the Japanese kill.
In mid December The Sydney Morning Herald gave further details on the “customs” ship:
AUSTRALIA plans to spy on the Japanese whaling fleet using an armed P&O cruise ship, with a lesser role for the Australian Defence Force.High-level talks have focused on leasing the commercial vessel, Oceanic Viking, which has a re-enforced hull to cut through ice, a crew trained for polar conditions and “super-telephoto” lenses to record the whale slaughter.
Sources said the ship would also carry video equipment, and the images would be used in Australian international court action planned against the Japanese whale hunt, the largest for 20 years. The images would complement a series of aerial surveys on whale populations, to begin soon.
Under plans being developed, the Oceanic Viking would have two .50-calibre machine-guns manned by a customs boarding party to supply the “muscle”, while working with a civilian P&O crew. Continue Reading…
Since that article was published the Japanese fleet abandoned plans hunt 50 endangered humpback whales, refocusing efforts on a goal of 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales. In response to the changes Australia has decided the guns, while remaining aboard, will be kept under lock and key.
Along with the customs ship Greenpeace has given orders to the M/V Esperanza (photos) to join the effort. The following image is charts planned route of each vessel;
The deputy whaling commissioner Joji Morishita told BBC News that Japan’s position was hugely misunderstood;
What drives Japan is a belief in the principle of sustainable use of resources, whatever they might be, he said.
“Many countries support sustainable use of resources, but somehow they exempt whales from this principle, because they think whales are a special animal.
“But there are many special animals – the cow in India, for example – and if each nation tries to impose its own special animal on other countries, you can see the problem.” Continue reading…
If this story interests you can watch the action live on the M/V Esperanza’s Bridge Cam. Also be sure to check out the following resources:
- BBC’s Guide To The Ships
- Australian Custom Service’s Homepage
- Diary Of The Whale-Chasers
- The Greenpeace Crew Blog
- Lifesize View Of A Whale
- BBC’s Latest Whaling News (Video and updates on right)
- Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
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Tags: · australia, Environment, fishing, Greenpeace, Japan, marine mammals, ship, whales, whaling
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