"There's no such thing as an innocent bystander" | Home | What we came here to do

Thanks everyone, keep up the fantastic work, you have had some great coverage in the media here in Melbourne.

keep up the fantastic spirit. with you all the way!As we have been sweltering & you bravos have been dealing with the icy elements ,rough seas & shady politics-many peoples thoughts are with you
BRAVO,G'DAY & GOOD LUCK thinking of you all-all the time
Lindax

Felt pysically sick when I heard about the junior whale they had shot.

The work your doing is truly amazing and you all deserve a OBE\MBE for all yoru doing for whales..

Dont give up on what your doing, press coverage is increasing so hopefully the cruel Japanesse will eventually realise that they are so totally wrong

For every whale killed we scream inside.

You are totally amazing. Strong spirits, stay safe. We are with you all the way. Thinking of you all the time.

It looks rough out there.

I have written the following letter to the Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley with the following as I don't feel that the Australian government is doing enough to protest the actions of the Japanese. Perhaps it has something to do with the free trade agreement Australia is hoping for with Japan. I have also written to the IWC along the same lines as amazingly their website has not been updated since the 16th December. Am I in error to think that the IWC would be interested in the current situation of whales?

Here's my letter, I urge all Aussies to write to JH and KB.

"I am writing to protest the actions of the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and cannot understand why Australia has not made a formal protest to Japan or sent an observer ship to the Southern Ocean to monitor the actions of the Japanese. Surely the Japanese cannot simply run riot around the Southern Ocean in this way with no supervision. The fact that the Japanese do not recognise Australia’s sovereignty over this region of Antarctica does not absolve Australia of the duty to protect the ocean.

If for no other reason, who, apart from Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, is monitoring what the Japanese are doing? Who monitors how many whales they kill? Who observes whether they are causing unnecessary suffering to the creature? In one Greenpeace report, a whale took 10 minutes to die. Most groups seem to be in agreement that the intentions of the Japanese in killing over 100 whales this year has not much to do with “scientific research” and a lot to do with eating the poor creatures.

The photographs on the Greenpeace website of a Minke whale being slaughtered in the ocean are gruesome in the extreme and I cannot conceive of the terror and fear of these poor creatures when pursued by a Japanese Whaler. The sea runs red with the animal’s blood. Whales are not insensate, they do experience pain, they are mammals like us and I am appalled at Australia’s lack of action in this matter when we have a duty to speak out and fight for what is right as it is our moral imperative.

It is unbelievable that the Japanese persist with the fairytale that they are undertaking “research” into whaling. Frankly they must think the world is stupid to try and fool us with this canard. To kill magnificent creatures in the name of science is to denigrate science; to use science as a smokescreen reeks of moral vacuity and we should reject it completely and insist on the truth.

I am asking you, as the Prime Minister of Australia, to take action to end this horrible killing and enforce the whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean."

Joan, again the question must be asked of why it is terrible for a poor whale to be eaten when millions of other animals are eaten every day.

Minke whales are not endangered, they're FAR from it.

They're just cute.

Hi Pazreal,

Actually, according to our resident whaling expert and Greenpeace representative to the IWC, John Frizell, there is no accurate estimate of minke whale populations.

"There is currently no agreed estimate for the size of the Antarctic minke population (although that has not stopped the Japanese whaling establishment from using the old discredited estimate of 760,000). Current surveys indicate that the abundance is substantially lower than the old estimate and the the IWC's Scientific Committee is still working to identify factors contributing to the differences between the two surveys. A substantial decline in the minke population has not been ruled out. "

In fact, Japanese delegates to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) constantly refer to a 1990 estimate of the Antarctic minke population of 760,000. But that figure was withdrawn by the IWC in 2000 because recent surveys found far fewer minkes than the older ones. The new estimates are half the old in every area that has been resurveyed. The IWC’s scientists do not understand the reasons for this and so far have not been able to agree a new estimate.

Secondly, referring to the need to protect minke whales because they are "cute" is simplifying the issue. They are intelligent, well-loved creatures that communicate and in many ways have human-like behaviour such as the way they nurture their young and socialise. I think that is why humans love them or consider htem, as you put it, "cute" (in fact physically minke's aren't the "cutest" cetacean!)

I'm not commenting on whether or not eating meat is right or humane, but as someone pointed out in another post, other animals are bred to be eaten in controlled populations. Whales are wild and their populations are greatly reduced due to years of commercial whaling, and impacted upon by several factors such as climate change, human military and sonar activity, human degradation of ocean environments such as pollution and oil drilling etc etc, so are far more vulnerable to extinction. They also breed fairly rarely which makes their populations slow to recover from any depletion.

Lastly, unlike many farm animals, whales take up to 15 minutes to die a slow and agonizing death. There is simply no humane way to kill such a large creature.

I heard about this story through a European satelite News TV station and proceeded to find out more information by going to greenpeace.org. The actions you have taken to stop whale hunting are courageous and commendable. I am going to spread the word. I just hope that one day the US news media will give a story like this some coverage.

Thank you for doing what you are doing!!! I imagine you don't do this to get praise, but you do deserve to be praised! As i sit in my office, first day back, after a break, i read your bloggs and have a surge of so many emotions in my body. I don't understand the whalers justification. If the killings are for scientific research, why dont they just test those poor whales that beach themselves so frequently on the many shores around the world and leave those poor mammals that are still living in the sea alone.....Well Done!!!!

I am greatful for all you guys do. I had no idea people still hunted whale. What in the world do they do w/ them after they are processed? Its awful how humans can hurt and destroy such a gentle and beautiful creature. They should be punished for that. Isn't there a protective law against hunting whales, aren't they almost extinct by now? Enough already!Please don't give up, please make them stop. Thanks again to you all.

This just goes to show that governments all over the world can get away with whatever they want, International laws or not no government organisation is going to do anything about it, Its a shame that money does all the talking these days... You people taking direct action are certainly blessed souls and my thoughts and prayers go with you, and i do hope more people donate to help your cause

Thankyou for you efforts, what you and the Sea Shepherd crews are doing is TRULY fantastic. I am completely outraged by the disconnection and blatant greed of these companies.

ABC news is running something every evening, keep up the good work.

Every whale they succeed in getting is a death knell for their disgusting trade. THEY WILL BE STOPPED!

Keep up the good work. If it wasn't for Greenpeace then more lives would be lost.

I want to help and I shall!

Beccy

Your efforts got coverage in Canada on CBC's "The National". The story, added to the frustration of the apparent advance of the Conservatives in the election polls (the only party without an official environment plan) steamed me, so I sent this letter which I hope will encourage them to get the word out even more!

I was glad to see that The National is providing long overdue media attention to the issue of the Japanese Fisheries Agency and their shameful practice of hiding behind the guise of "scientific research" while hunting down threatened and endangered whales. These whalers will kill up to 935 Minke whales this year alone, selling their meat at market for US $50 million annually. Not only are these whalers therefore undertaking commercial hunting during a worldwide moratorium, they are hunting in a whale Sanctuary - there is simply no excuse or justification for this and it is an insult to science.

In the next two years this same group proposes to increase their hunt of 10 endangered whales per year to 100 endangered whales (50 each Fin and Humpback), all against worldwide opposition from academia, industry, and the public. They claim that they are taking these whales in order to ‘collect enough data’, yet since the start of this “research” 18 years ago, they have killed more than eight thousand whales. Clearly, data is not lacking. Furthermore, current methods in biology and ecology provide many non-lethal options for data collection. A recent commentary in Nature (Gales et al June 16 2005) explains that Japan's expanded programme will result in annual catches that “are more than half the total cumulative catches for scientific research by ALL nations in the past half-century.” Numbers like this are hardly different from commercial whaling; they must not be allowed, especially without adequate scientific rationale. Gales et al outline details that expose the severe inadequacy of the Japanese “research plan”, the low academic productivity of the program, and the obvious commercial motives behind it, all supported by the Japanese government.
Currently, the International Whaling Commission does not enforce bans on the number of whales killed under the banner of “research”. The government of Japan is responsible for setting the allowable catch for their own ships. They are neither required to justify these numbers by any sound scientific process, nor are they obliged to follow the recommendations of IWC assessment by experts in industry and academia. There is currently nothing in place to stop Japan from continuing to accelerate this unnecessary program for their own irresponsible and unjustified means, all the while failing to contribute significant knowledge to the field of cetacean research.

It seems that the IWC has allowed the Japanese whaling program to make a mockery out of their organization and their so called regulation of commercial whaling. The Japanese Fisheries Agency and the Japanese government should be held accountable for their shameful and irresponsible actions in front of a world audience and we should all do our utmost to assist in stopping this terrible practice now.

Great work everyone! I saw video of the whaling and your efforts to stop the Japanese fleet on the news where I live, in Canada. Be careful when you're protecting the whales; it would be absolutely horrible if something bad happened while you are between the whales and the harpoons. So keep up the great work, and stay safe!!! I think you are all doing an amazing job, and I wish I could be there too.

I did not know that they hunt in such cruel manner, with all the technology we have...science has nothing to do with this...just industry. And what is more they are really bad hunters too, in the prehistory times they (humans -hunters) would not survive (joke).
But it is no joke wat you are doing. I really adimre your work and effort. Keep going and you are all ESPERANZA (hope) for the human kind!
(I apologize for my bad english)

Your work is outrageously GREAT! Yell louder and stronger. The world is still sleeping.

We can no longer let countries like Japan carry on in this manner. These barbaric hunts show just how low a country can stoop. Their actions at sea are piracy and it is about time other countries took legal action against them.