Posted on 07/17/2011 2:42:46 AM PDT by tlb
The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting has closed after a tense final day when relations between opposing blocs came close to collapse.
Latin American nations attempted to force a vote on a proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic.
Pro-whaling countries walked out, but eventually it was decided to shelve any vote until next year's meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, governments agreed new regulations designed to prevent "cash for votes" scandals that have plagued the IWC in the past, and passed a resolution censuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for putting safety at risk during its annual missions to counter Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.
But the sanctuary issue threatened to derail the entire session.
"We didn't come here to win the sanctuary on the vote, but we wanted to put it to a vote - we believe our conservation agenda cannot be put forward, be stressed, be highlighted, be defended in some issues without a vote," said Brazil's commissioner Marcus Henrique Paranagua.
The pro-whaling bloc said this could herald a return to the fractious days of the past, and walked out in an attempt to bring the meeting below the quorum needed for votes to count.
The compromise eventually hammered out, after private discussions lasting nearly nine hours, asks countries to strive to reach consensus during the coming year.
"Acrimony is often the enemy of conservation - in this case, it meant that a critical meeting on whales failed to address the greatest threats they face," said Wendy Elliott, head of environment group WWF's delegation.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
The first thing these groups should do is build a statue to John D. Rockefeller, whose cheap kerosene saved the whales in the late 1800s.
Sea Sheppard group = terrorists, pirates (their ships should be sunk) :)
Yeah, me too, but I'd like nothing more than to see the Japanese sink the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, and watch Paul Watson push his hippies out of the way as he scrambles for his lifeboat.
Animal Planet is complicit in the Sea Shephard's activities by funding and promoting their actions in the name of viewer ratings.
The vast majority of the whales they harvest are species which are not endangered. As long as they stick to those I don’t see a real issue.
Perhaps you are right. But there is NO valid reason for hunting whales at present. These whalers are a pointless brutal anachronism.
that would be justified
and the tv ratings would go thru the roof!
Is there any valid reason for hunting anything in your opinion? There is a market for whale isn’t there? Why would they buy something if it had no value?
I’m not being argumentative. I just want to understand how you came to that conclusion.
I am waiting for the Japanese navy to show up and sink the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker putting Paul Watson and his hippies in jail for a long time.
Awwwww, man. That would end my weekly laff-riot.
But if they obeyed safety rules, why would anyone watch Whale Wars. Hippies Failing Slightly is not nearly as fun as the Hippie Failing Badly™ thread. Where else can you see not one but two boats captained by people promoted from the position of ship's chef (showing Admiral Tubby's priorities)?
Whale meat is a high priced delicacy in Japan. Would be here too if the wackos were not in control of our food supply.
Thanks tlb.
I agree with DB.
No reason to hunt whales. Animals with a Encephalization quotient >= 1 shouldn’t be hunted IMO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient
Agreed; but I have a lower opinion of the pirates than of the whalers. I heard that there is good news in this season's Whale Wars; a few dead pirates, maybe.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a terrorist group.
I am waiting for the Japanese navy to show up and sink the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker putting Paul Watson and his hippies in jail for a long time.
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From your keyboard to God’s ear.
Ever seen a biological pyramid? The ocean is a food resource. Whales eat massive amounts of food. On the other hand, whales are renewable, capable of processing valuable chemical resources. They are also a source of entertainment (which is apparently your thing, upon which you expect a "world police" to enforce your preferences). Those competing attributes means that people have reason to manage them in perpetuity.
Further, whales are capable of multiplying until they deplete their food resources. Needless to say, that is cause for the multiplication of whale predators. Which do you think is more humane, death by explosive harpoon or death by orca?
In other words, your argument is just as dumb as PETA screaming that we should all be vegans and seeking global government to enforce their human population control preferences. The planet can benefit as a whole from intelligent management, supporting both more people and more wildlife. Humans are the only species capable of prospective intervention, but the one thing in our way is this idiotic idea that Nature is self-optimizing, as if the system was capable of prospective volition. It doesn't work that way. Grow up.
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