Whale Hunt to Resume

[dmoss 0]

It's hard to understand how this is annually called "scientific research".

 

Humpback Whale Hunt

Edited November 16, 2007 by dmoss

[Giles 1]

捜すこと= 科学の研究
Hunting   =   Science Research

 

Thanks to Babel Fish .. even I can see a difference in Japanese.

 

But in seriousness .. This is probably a way for the Japanese to give a good old two fingers up to the western world about all the protesting that is happening recently. Thanks to Hayden Panettiere Dolphins are getting into the Hollywood limelight right now.

TV star Hayden Panettiere has been involved in a violent confrontation with Japanese fishermen as she tried to disrupt their annual dolphin slaughter.

The 18-year-old actress, who stars in TV blockbuster Heroes, paddled out on a surfboard in an attempt to reach a pod of dolphins to stop them being driven into a nearby cove and killed.

But the six surfers, from Australia and the United States, were intercepted by a fishing boat before they could reach the dolphins.

The fishermen used the boat's propellers to block their way and at one point struck out with a boathook.

It was an ugly and potentially life-threatening confrontation that lasted more than 10 minutes before the surfers were forced to return to the beach.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1291049,00.html

 

It obviously is not going to be an easy feat to stop all the hunting that happens over that part of the world in the oceans.

[Drew 0]

While I am for the whaling ban, I do find it irritating that so many more cetaceans in dire need of protection have been waylaid by this.

The Hector's and Maui dolphins are now down to the hundreds and on the verge of extinction...in New Zealand. Where is the public outcry for that?

We lost the Baiji river dolphin and the irrawaddy dolphins are also going that way, as are the Boto in the Amazon.

[LChan 0]

I think my friend's reaction says this best.

 

For the last couple of years I have been telling her about shark-finning, the plight of the whales and turtles. No real reaction. When she saw the footage of the dolphins on national TV, she cried.

It was because "dolphins are so cute".

 

I'm glad the dolphin hunt is getting some limelight, but it seems that joe-public doesn't care.

[stewsmith 14]

Quote: but it seems that joe-public doesn't care.

 

I do disagree with this, i do think that the public care. It is a job for our world powers to sort out. Greenpeace and organisations similar have been fighting this kind of barbaric behaviour for a long time now.

It is our own politicians that do not give a hoot. The trouble is Japan are a world leader in manufacturing and exporting goods to countrys that would probably fall to pieces if Japan refused to export to them.

 

Having said that if they stopped exporting goods into the UK there would be far less cars on the road. Which wouldn't be a bad thing.

[Drew 0]

Well that's the problem, isn't it? The likes of Greenpeace and celebs make a grandstand for a "barbaric" slaughter when there is much more urgent action needed by species in dire need of saving by simply altering fishing practices in NZ, for example.

I really do think this sort of campaign feeds on the nationalistic side of things. By highlighting the Japanese as barbaric (and whom ever eats meat will find that there is no humane way of killing anything en masse), it is counterproductive to helping the animals. Dolphins drowning in fishing nets in NZ die just as horribly as those dolphins being hacked to death in Taiji.

Stew, if the Japanese cars weren't there, you'd have more (Fiat, Ford, VW or worse... Rover or Vauxhall!) cars breaking down on your roads, causing worse jams . Not to mention quite a few Japanese branded cars are made in the UK.