herd of pilot whales on Japan factory ship by Sea Shepard Society
Somewhere off the coast of Antarctica, in the storm-lashed, iceberg-ridden vastness of the Southern Ocean, the biggest, wildest place left in the world, the Japanese fleet is shooting whales with explosive-tipped harpoons, winching them out of the ocean still alive and screaming, electrocuting them, processing the meat for commercial sale to the Japanese public, and claiming that it is all in the interests of science. Since 1986 there has been an international moratorium on whaling but it makes an exception for lethal scientific research and Japan uses this loophole to take 1,000 whales a year, including endangered fin whales, humpbacks and pregnant females, from an area of ocean officially designated as a protected whale sanctuary.
There is nothing scientific about Japan's annual whale slaughter. Not only do the Japanese kill the world whale population every year, they kill dolphins by the hundreds, ignore fish bans or regulations on giant yellow fin tuna, swordfish and use illegal capture nets for schools of endangered fish worldwide netting every fish, even young small ones. Greenpeace alleged that Tokyo has been siphoning international humanitarian aid money from disaster victims by spending an extra 2.28 billion yen ($19 million USD ) on beefed-up security for its whaling fleet. Japan cut short 2010-2011 hunt by one month after bagging only one-fifth of its planned catch. It blamed interference from the US-based environmental group Sea Shepherd. Commercial whaling is banned under an international treaty but since 1987 Japan has used a loophole to carry out "lethal research" on the creatures in the name of science. Japan says it is necessary to substantiate its view that there is a robust whale population in the world, but does not hide the fact that whale meat from this research ends up on dinner tables and in restaurants.
This year the Sea Shepard the anti-whaling environmental group is using military style drones to find and monitor the Japanese whaling ships and document their slaughter of entire herds of whales. Of course what can the rest of us expect from a nation that murdered, tortured, pillaged and raped more than 20 million Asians, Filipino's and Chinese during WWII and have never apologized to any of the nations it invaded especially China . Just in the city of Nanking in 1937 the army of Japan murdered more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers who surrendered, civilians and raped more than 100,000 women and girls.. And the world sits with its fingers or heads up its backsides and does nothing. Maybe when all the fish are gone, the oceans are dead and the planet is in its final stages of extinction maybe we all will reflect and regret that something should have been done.
Talking to the Japanese has not worked and never will. Japan has always done and continually does exactly as it has wanted regardless of world opinion against its actions, whether its slaughtering whales, clubbing seals yearly in the Arctic circle,, killing thousands of bottle nose dolphins netting entire schools of fish worldwide despite net regulations against such acts, or murdering entire populations during the second world war. It will only be through physical action by the navy's of developed countries that take a stand against such activities, such as the actions of Paul Watson and the group Sea Shepard. Flying the Jolly Roger pirate flag, Paul Watson has sunk 10 whaling ships thus far. This writer gives his actions a hardy thumb up. Since it was founded in 1977, Sea Shepherd has rammed and disabled well over a dozen whaling and illegal fishing vessels on the high seas, and sunk others in ports by sneaking aboard and opening valves to let in seawater, and on occasion by blowing holes in the hulls with limpet mines.
When measured against a nation such as Japan that totally ignores international ridicule and condemnation, not to mention international fisheries regulations, such action are deemed appropriate. Paul Watson is a bold figure, the nearest thing the environmental movement has to an action hero, and he is revered by his supporters, who include Mick Jagger, Martin Sheen, Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, William Shatner, Orlando Bloom, Edward Norton, Christian Bale and a number of other celebrities, who collectively supply most of Sea Shepherd's funding. John Paul DeJoria, the hair-products magnate behind Paul Mitchell Systems, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the campaigns and custom-fitted Watson's luxurious sleeping quarters on the otherwise spartan ship. By his desk Watson keeps a small statue of the Tibetan God Hayagriva, a wrathful scowling deity, which was given to him by the Dalai Lama with a letter of support.
