Powhiri Update | Home | The Esperanza sings

Great vid, good luck!

Hello,
Is Isha on board?
I am her sister ..
God luck to all and be safe..

Karli should first decide what her position is before recording herself making contradictory statements.

First she says: "The 1000 whales that will be killed this year in the Southern Ocean are just the tip of the iceberg. What we're concerned about is that this may lead to a return to commercial whaling".

But then later she says: "What the Fisheries Agency of Japan is doing is not scientific, it's merely commercial whaling in disguise".

The FAJ is either whaling commercially already, or the current programme may eventually "lead to a return" to commercial whaling.

Also, is Karli conceding already that the ICR will indeed take "1000 whales" (the actual maximum is 945, but anyway...)? If so, will she confirm that the inflatables will not be put out on the water to ensure both the safety of the Greenpeace activists, as well as avoiding the potential of inflatable presence having negative impacts on the welfare statistics of the hunt (and related criticism)?

Also, the narrator says: "Back in Japan, hardly any one seems interested in the Southern Ocean whale meat."

Whoever gave the narrator that information must not be living in Japan or must have their eyes closed. Consumption in 2006 appears to have exceeded the level of supply in 2005. We're talking about consumption increases in excess of 50% in the general markets (meat volumes allocated to school lunch programmes, etc remained basically constant between 2004 and 2006).

The narrator also says: "By the end of 2006, nearly 5,000 tonnes piled up in cold storage."

Did the narrator just make this up? The stockpile level fell to 4,403 tonnes at the end of November 2006, and the figures for the end of 2006 have not even been released yet. When released, the figures will probably indicate that the stocks fell below 4,000 tonnes.

Why did the speakers round the maximum of 945 whales up to 1,000 whales, and an as yet undetermined stockpile figure at 5,000 tonnes? Why not just call it 50,000 tonnes if you are going to pull numbers out of the air? By the way, there was apparently 68,000 tonnes of tuna in cold storage at the end of November - just to give a little context to help understand the numbers.

REPLY TO DAVID

Hello again David. I think you're nitpicking here. Firstly, Karli's statements were quite obviously not contradictory. She says that we fear that the FAJ's whaling may lead to commercial whaling, and is asserting that currently they are actually doing commercial whaling in all but name. The FAJ has been pretty open that they intend to lobby for full-scale commercial whaling and that is the intent of the "science" they practice now. So Karli's statements make complete sense.

Secondly, the narrator did not make up the amount of meat stockpiled - the information comes straight from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan itself.

See graph here. According to the latest figures, 4962 tonnes of whale meat are now stockpiled in Japan, as of October 2006. Which even you must concede is in fact "nearly 5000".

Regarding your assertions about Japanese eating whale meat, now who's pulling numbers out of thin air? A June 2006 poll by the Nippon Research Centre showed that 95% of Japanese never or rarely eat whale meat and more than 70 % of Japanese do NOT support whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Page 10 shows how often Japanese eat whale meat. This is from our Japanese office - all employees of which DO live in Japan (obviously).

http://www.greenpeace.or.jp/press/reports/q_whaling_eng.pdf

"In excess of 50% in the general markets" isn't very much then is it? And what does it say about the market when the JFA is force-feeding school kids to create a demand for their product??

Regarding Karli's comment about the whale quota, she is obviously referring to absolute worst case scenario.

And lastly, your tuna comment. You yourself have just illustrated the comparatively tiny market for whale meat, an industry that is hardly worth all of this trouble and taxpayer money in subsidies, equipment, PR representatives, international relations issues and bureaucracy.