Wednesday 31 December 2014

Have a great New Year's Eve!


Hopefully 2015 is the year the world finally stops the barbaric slaughter of wildlife.

Monday 29 December 2014

Removing a Weapon of Mass Ecological Destruction


The crew of the San Simon haul in illegally set gillnets set by toothfish poachers.

https://www.facebook.com/captpaulwatson/posts/10152872732810932

Saturday 27 December 2014

How Much is a Whale’s Life Worth?


“You have not lived until you have risked your life so that others may live.”
~ Captain Paul Watson


Captian Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd recently asked how much a whale's life is worth.

http://www.seashepherd.org/commentary-and-editorials/2014/12/23/how-much-is-a-whales-life-worth-679

Thursday 25 December 2014

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Court Rules Orangutan Held In Argentina Zoo Is 'Non-Human Person' And Can Be Freed


A Landmark Legal Decision!
This is a landmark decision and we need to continue on this course to achieve the same status for all primates, dolphins, whales and elephants. Self aware socially complex sentient beings deserve the right to not be enslaved. exploited and abused,

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/21/orangutan-argentina_n_6363582.html

Sunday 21 December 2014

China drafts first legislation in history to recognise animal welfare


China is inching towards pogress. A promising start, now to keep it up.

http://blog1.oceans-campus.com/wildbuzz-law/china-drafts-first-legislation-in-history-to-recognise-animal-welfare?utm_content=10603938&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

Friday 19 December 2014

Sea Shepherd calls for Australian intervention in Southern Ocean standoff


Come on Australia. Step up and kick them out of your waters!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/18/sea-shepherd-calls-for-australian-intervention-southern-ocean-standoff

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Dolphin living alone for 30 years in Irish harbour spotted leaping next to boat


Humans can co-exist with dolphins!

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11297166/Dolphin-living-alone-for-30-years-in-Irish-harbour-spotted-leaping-next-to-boat.html

Monday 15 December 2014

How Greenpeace Wrecked One of the Most Sacred Places in the Americas


"TIME FOR CHANGES" plastered over a sacred site in Peru - how dumb can Greenpeace be? Here in New Zealand we call this "Over Kill"!! Greenpeace stay with what you know best and don't tamper with heritage sites to advertise your stupidity. We wonder, is your "Future  Renewable"? Think before you act!

http://gizmodo.com/how-greenpeace-wrecked-one-of-the-most-sacred-places-in-1669873583

Saturday 13 December 2014

SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison To Step Down As Park Attendance Drops


So  the CEO is running away.
Just admit defeat and close the park!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/11/seaworld-ceo-jim-atchison_n_6311412.html

Tuesday 9 December 2014

A Year After Blackfish, Tilikum The Orca Is Still Languishing In A Too-Small Tank


It's time to free Tilly.
Come on Sea World!

https://www.thedodo.com/a-year-after-blackfish-tilikum-578175002.html

Sunday 7 December 2014

Japan Vows to Resume Whaling for “Science”

 
Laws and treaties mean nothing to Japan as it prepares to go back to the Antarctic to kill 330 Minke whales each year for the next 12 years. The International Whaling Commission does not have the power to stop them - so get out and protest!
http://www.care2.com/causes/japan-vows-to-resume-whaling-for-science.html

Friday 5 December 2014

The Faroese Seek to Suppress Dissent


Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

In their quest to continue the barbaric slaughter of pilot whales and dolphins, Faroese lawmakers are looking at eroding their own democracy by banning Sea Shepherd from entering the Faroe Islands.
If they do, Sea Shepherd will find other means to disrupt the horrific slaughter of these intelligent, self aware, socially complex sentient beings. Our opposition to the slaughter will never cease. We will fight this horror on the water, in the courts and in the European Parliament until the Faroes comes to respect the sanctity of cetacean lives like the rest of Europe.

First this article states that Sea Shepherd is a threat to the Grindacrap. And then it states that Sea Shepherd had no effect. Last year between June and October over 1,300 whales and dolphins were massacred. This season while Sea Shepherd crew were on the ground and on the water, only 33 pilot whales were killed. When Sea Shepherd was there in 2011, no whales were killed that summer.
The facts speak for themselves and Sea Shepherd volunteers saved hundreds of lives no matter how the whalers deny this. And they are obviously afraid that Sea Shepherd will save more lives if they are looking at taking extremist measures to stop Sea Shepherd from entering the country.

It was amusing to read how people who viciously slaughter cetaceans, with their bodies covered in blood from spurting wounds as they slash and stab these creatures to death then call Sea Shepherd terrorists when not a single Sea Shepherd volunteer has ever injured a single whaler. Sea Shepherd crew were violently assaulted yet in the minds of the whale killers, preventing sentient beings from being ruthlessly massacred is terrorism.

However if they should succeed in enacting legislation to stop Sea Shepherd from entering the Faroes, there are other ways of effectively obstructing the killing of the pilot whales and dolphins.

Passion plus courage plus imagination are the ingredients required for innovating new strategies and tactics.

Read more here

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Japan Has Become the Ocean Fool on the Issue of Whaling



by Captain Paul Watson
 
Japan has fooled all of the nations some of the time and still fools some of the nations some of the time but they can no longer fool all of the nations all of the time. Japanese "scientific" whaling is a fraud. It is a lie and it is a barbaric, inhumane flaunting of international law. Japanese whaling has been found to be in contempt of the Australian Federal Court. It has been condemned as a fraud by the International Court of Justice and it has not been sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission. And now it looks like the New York Times has made their position clear on the bogus research activities of the Japanese whalers. 
 
There will be no whale slaughter for the 2014/2015 season. Japan has set a target for 333 whales for the 2015/2016 season. They have not been able to get even that number due to interventions by Sea Shepherd Global ships over the last few years. They need at least 600 whales to break even so mass subsidies will continue to support this pathetic industry at the cost to Japanese taxpayers and to the shame of all Japanese citizens.

Japan want to continue killing whales for scientific research that simply is nothing more than research in name for the purpose of providing whale meat to people who do not wish to eat it and thus it is stored in warehouses for years at great expense with the hope that the people will change their minds forgetting that the only reason Japanese people ate whale meat in the first place is that after WW II they did not have any choice. It beat boiling leather shoes for soup.

Whaling and the dolphin slaughter are turning Japan into an embarrassment in the international community, a nation that kills what most of the rest of the world cherishes and respects.
People like Joji Morishita need to realize that Japan is no longer a nation of desperate blubber chewers. Japanese people are becoming far too sophisticated and aware of the serious ecological and conservation issues in the world and the Institute for Cetacean Research simply does not represent modern Japanese views.

Whaling is a dead industry. The problem is that entrenched Japanese bureaucrats and politicians have not accepted the inevitable.

In order to resume commercial whaling the factory ship Nisshin Maru needs to be replaced. This will be an investment of between $100 and $200 million dollars. This will be difficult to justify so that explains the heavy lobbying of the politicians.

Will they get it? I would not be surprised. Politicians everywhere love to waste money in exchange for a kick-back.

Sunday 30 November 2014

Japan’s Whale Killing Ahab Says Protecting Whales is Racism


Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
Joji Morishita loves to kill whales.

Joji is Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission.

He is in contempt of the Australian Federal Court. He has had his hands slapped by the International Court of Justice, (ICJ) he has been swatted down by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and humiliated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

He has spent millions of dollars bribing small nations for their votes at the IWC, hiring lawyers to defend Japan’s bogus “scientific” program from Australia and to pursue law suits against Sea Shepherd USA.
 
But like Teruo Nakamura, Joji Morishita does not know when to quit.

Japanese Imperial Army private Teruo Nakamura was stationed on Morotai Island in Indonesia and surrendered in December 1974, 29 years after the official Japanese surrender.

Now in desperation Morishita has resorted to histrionic accusations of racism and “eco-imperialism” in his Ahab crazed obsession to kill more whales.

And Morishita’s hatred of whales has now been extended to elephants as he accuses both whale and elephant defenders of forcing their values onto other cultures.
 
Morishita intends to return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 2015 to renew his quest for whale blood with a new plan, one he is convinced will allow Japan to continue to slaughter whales without further cricism. He has been forced to lower his kill expectations to 333 and has added all sorts of apparent “scientific” justifications.

Morishita boasts that the new proposal, which calls for taking 333 Minke whales and no Humpbacks or Fins will be Tokyo's response to continue what he calls “sustainable” whaling according to “scientific” principles.

"The whaling issue is seen as a symbol of a larger issue sometimes in Japan. You might have heard the word 'eco-imperialism', Morishita told a news conference.

"When you go out and ask ordinary Japanese about the whaling issue, they're going to say 'I don't eat whale meat, however I don't like the idea of beef-eating people or pork-eating people saying to Japanese, stop eating whales."

Morishita should do his homework because he will never find a gram of beef or pork on a Sea Shepherd ship, nor will he find chicken or fish. Additionally there are more pork and beef-eating people in Japan than in Australia or New Zealand.

He is clutching for straws with this new invented term called “food culture.”

And in saying this he is admitting that there is nothing scientific about Japan’s whaling operations if the reason for pursuing it is their “food culture.”

This so called scientific whaling began in 1987, the year after the commercial moratorium on whaling came into effect. Between 1950 and 1986, 900 whales were killed worldwide by all nations in the name of scientific research. Japan alone killed that many whales before 1990.

The world knows that Japanese scientific research whaling is a sham and Japan knows that the world knows this, but just like private Nakamura, Morishita refuses to accept that the Japanese whaling program finished. It survives as nothing more than a glorified welfare project for the bureaucrats like Morishita that run the Institute of Cetacean Research and the whalers who crew the whaling ships. He simply refuses to acknowledge that killing whales is no longer acceptable in the 21st Century.

His lethal obsession continues to exist because of subsidies including some $30 million dollars skimmed off the donations from around the world that were sent to Japan in the wake of the tsunami disaster of 2011.

Despite the fact that less than 5% of the Japanese people eat whale meat and Japan still has thousands of tons of unwanted whale meat in their warehouses, Morishita insists that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is a cherished part of its food culture.

“Those who oppose whaling are racists,” he maintains.

He also says that Japan's situation resonates with some developing nations, (the ones he bribes) insisting that while elephants are indeed in danger in some parts of Africa, nations where they are numerous face a similar dilemma when they want to pursue sustainable use.

"Now elephants are seen as a charismatic animal so just killing it is seen as wrong in many parts of the world," Morishita said. "Charismatic animals cover not just elephants but also whales.”

Morishita complained that critics of whaling have to drop their “zero tolerance” stance and recognize that different countries have “different codes.”

“What if (India) started promoting their habit (of not eating cows) on the rest of the world, and promoted an anti-McDonald’s, anti-beef steak movement throughout the world with economic sanctions. People can see the stupidity of this if you talk about beef, but what’s the difference between a cow and whales?”

From decrying racism to a blanket condemnation of Hindu practices as stupidity illustrates that Morishita’s responses are not very well thought out.

He is responding emotionally to arguments he criticizes as emotionally motivated.

Aside from the fact that millions of people do oppose the killing of cows, there are huge differences between killing whales and cows. First cows are domesticated and whales are wild. Secondly there are close to a billion cows in the world and they are hardly endangered or threatened with extinction whereas whale numbers are comparatively very small. Thirdly no slaughterhouse in the world would allow the prolonged stressful killing process whales must endure where it takes as long as 25 minutes to die in agonizing pain. Fourthly there is no beef industry in the world surviving solely on massive tax subsidies to produce a product that few people are eating. Fifthly whales are being killed in a whale sanctuary and this would be akin to killing cows in a farm sanctuary, And sixth and lastly, the beef industry has not been condemned by the International Court of Justice for pretending to kill cows for scientific research. This comparison of whales and cows is both juvenile and unrealistic.
Morishita takes his defense of whaling to the heights of absurdity when he compares the killing of whales to the rights of women in Japan to wear kimonos saying that objections to whaling, partly on the grounds that the hunts are unprofitable and bankrolled by Japanese taxpayers – could be compared to restrictions on the wearing of kimono.

“The average Japanese woman wears kimono perhaps two or three times in her lifetime,” he said. “Those ceremonial kimono cost millions of yen, so some might argue that they are a waste of money. But what if another country then said that only a small number of women could wear kimono?”
It is difficult to envision a world where other countries would ban Japanese women from wearing kimonos. In fact the only country that has banned Japanese cultural values has been Japan when they banned the samurai, their swords and their top-knots in the 19th Century. At the same time whaling has never been a cultural tradition of the nation of Japan. It was a practice in a few remote Japanese villages and by some members of the aboriginal Ainu. Whaling in Antarctica was a practice encouraged by the American General Douglas MacArthur in 1946.

The Japanese government has prohibited aboriginal Ainu whaling yet insists that massive factory ships, expensive harpoon vessels and explosive harpoons are a mainstay of Japanese culture.
Joji Morishita’s job is to kill whales. He is not advocating whaling because it is a traditional Japanese practice. He is doing it because he is paid to do it. He also seems to take great pleasure in killing whales.

I have spent my entire life since I was a child defending whales. It is not racism that motivates me. I am the father to a daughter who is half Chinese. I have studied Japanese history and I’ve studied Kendo. But more importantly I have opposed whaling by Russia, Australia, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, South Africa and by Makah Indians in America. When it comes to whaling I do not discriminate on who I oppose. I’m not interested in the ethnic DNA structure of the hand that throws the harpoon or pulls the trigger. It is the harpoon that I wish to silence forever.

It is in fact racist of Morishita to accuse whale defenders of racism for being motivated to protect and defend whales for ecological and ethical reasons. We have more of a right to defend the whales than he has a right to kill them. The science is on our side. The ethics are on our side. The economics are on our side. The empathy is on our side.

We save whales for the sake of the whales and for the interests of peoples unborn. We save whales because they are threatened with extinction and because they suffer horrific agony from the merciless harpoons of the mechanized whaling fleets. We save whales because we are ecologically aware people motivated by empathy and by conservation ethics.

Morishita kills whales for one reason – for profit.

Morishita is defending his job and his absurd comparisons of whaling to wearing kimonos illustrates just how desperate and pathetic his arguments are.

Photo: Joji Morishita reading a Japanese food culture menu

Friday 28 November 2014

Another Rare Albino Dolphin Captured in Japan’s Cruel Dolphin Drives

 
Once again at Taiji, Japan, the annual dolphin slaughter took place in September. This time amongst the many mammals killed was the rare Russo's albino (white) dolphin. Give your support to Sea Shepherd to shut down the global trade of captive dolphins.
 
http://www.care2.com/causes/another-rare-albino-dolphin-captured-in-japans-cruel-dolphin-drives.html

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Sea Shepherd Spearheads Cleaning Up the Oceans




Kudos to Sea Shepherd for using scientific innovation and awareness-building to mobilize teams from around the globe to clean up the oceans and our beaches.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-reese-halter/sea-shepherd-spearheads-c_b_6196338.html

Monday 24 November 2014

45-Year-Old Dolphin Recovering from Cancer Forced to Perform in Aquatic Park


 
The pursuit of profit at the expenses of conservation is being carried out by Dolphin Marine Magic in Australia. Not meeting legal requirements and forcing a 45 year old dolphin in cancer remission to perform demeaning entertainment shows is a sign of outright greed! Support the petition.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/45-year-old-dolphin-recovering-from-cancer-forced-to-perform-in-aquatic-park.html

Saturday 22 November 2014

Sea Shepherd prepares to launch new mission targeting illegal Patagonian toothfishers


The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd is refuelling in Hobart ahead of a new mission targeting illegal fishing boats in the Southern Ocean.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-21/sea-shepherd-prepares-to-confront-illegal-antarctic-fishers/5909994

Friday 21 November 2014

Could This Beautiful Attraction End Marine Animal Captivity for Good?

Congratulations on creating Oceanwall and I hope it is the  start of many others like it around the world. It is a wonderful way of displaying the beautiful whales, dolphins and other cetaceans in a non-invasive way instead of seeing them in captivity in a marine land, a circus or aquarium.

http://www.care2.com/causes/could-this-beautiful-attraction-end-marine-animal-captivity-for-good.html

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Japan cuts Antarctic whale quota

Japan said on Tuesday it has cut its Antarctic whale-catch quota by two-thirds in a move it hopes will convince international opponents it is conducting genuine scientific research on expeditions in the region. 

Yeah, right Japan.  How stupid do you think we  are?

http://www.afp.com/fr/news/3065567/

Saturday 15 November 2014

Salt-Water Fish Extinction Seen By 2048



 If the fish die, the Ocean dies and if the Ocean dies, we all die

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/salt-water-fish-extinction-seen-by-2048/

Friday 14 November 2014

It's Safer to Work at Sea Shepherd Than Sea World


In more than 37 years of operations not a single Sea Shepherd crewmember has been killed or seriously injured.

https://www.thedodo.com/community/PaulWatson/sea-shepherd-is-safer-than-sea-815554778.html

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Russia and China Block Marine Protection Efforts in Antarctic


 
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) had protective measures regarding marine life in the Southern Ocean blocked by China and Russia. The bullies are at it again!
 

http://www.care2.com/causes/russia-and-china-block-marine-protection-efforts-in-antarctic.html

Thursday 30 October 2014

Landmark Resolution: San Francisco Recognizes The Rights Of Whales And Dolphins

 
A new resolution has been passed in San Francisco that gives Whales and Dolphins rights "'to be free of captivity and to remain unrestricted in their natural environment." At last recognition of other mammals!
https://www.thedodo.com/san-francisco-cetacean-rights-777140486.html?xrs=RebelMouse_tw

Thursday 18 September 2014

If you love whales, FIGHT for a silent ocean!

 
Japanese whaling is not the only killer of whales. Underwater noise pollution is a serious threat to all mammals in the oceans. Check out this site and support the "Silent Oceans" protest.
 

Saturday 13 September 2014

Blue Whales Bouncing Back!

 
 
At last good news about the recovery of the blue whale off the California coast. Hopefully, Japan and Norway will not decide to transfer their brutal whaling tactics off this coast.
 
http://www.care2.com/causes/good-news-californias-blue-whales-are-bouncing-back.html

Monday 1 September 2014

Japan's Dolphin Day


Japan Dolphins Day is coming to protest against the barbaric killing of dolphins. “The last Taiji hunting season was a brutal one. Across the globe, members of the public reacted to international headlines when hundreds of bottlenose dolphins were herded into the Cove in Taiji. One of those dolphins, Angel, became a symbol of the brutality of the hunts and helped to build and galvanize worldwide opposition to the inhumane captures with the new slogan: Liberate, then Celebrate: A New Era for Dolphin Compassion.”
As the Dolphin Project notes, this day is not about attacking Japan –  most Japanese people don’t know about the hunts and are appalled when they learn about it – it’s about continuing to educate everyone about what’s happening and about the dangers associated with eating mercury-laden dolphin meat, in addition to working with the government to end the slaughter.

Read more:
 http://www.care2.com/causes/how-you-can-help-this-japan-dolphins-day.html#ixzz3C16dZLul

Monday 25 August 2014

Aquarium Just Won’t Give Up Trying to Get Wild-Caught Belugas

 
 
Once again Sea World is running up against official and environmental opposition to take the endangered Beluga into captivity under the guise of protection. This is exploitation!

See here

Saturday 23 August 2014

Russia confiscates Japanese whaling ship

 
Japanese Whale Research in the Arctic is facing opposition from environmentalists like in the Southern Ocean. Go Russia go! Take it to them! 
http://news.yahoo.com/russia-holds-japan-whaling-research-vessel-052418800.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Friday 27 June 2014

Sunday 22 June 2014

Japan Slaughters 30 Minke Whales Despite ICJ Ruling


Japan has slaughtered thirty minke whales in its first annual hunt of the season, this despite an International Court Justice (ICJ) ruling earlier this year that ordered a halt of its expedition in the Antarctic.
Last March, the court rejected Japan’s contention that their JARPA II whaling programme in the Antarctic was scientific, not commercial. The decision was ruled on a suit brought by Australia and the New Zealand governments, which described the hunt as “ruse” to dodge prohibition against commercial killing. Although an international moratorium on commercial whaling has been in place since 1987, Japan still continued to hunt the whales under the pretense of scientific research. The court ruling found that the whale hunt in the Antarctic was not strictly for scientific purposes, and that is was a cover for commercial profit.
The ICJ ordered Japan to withdraw all whale hunting permits and licenses in the Antarctic, but the annual hunts along the northern coast, and in the northern Pacific, where approximately three hundred minke whales are slaughtered each year, were not discussed, nor included in the ruling.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency said that the thirty minke whales that have been killed during this year’s whaling season are part of its “research hunts’ in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

"As a country (New Zealand) that places a high value on its good international citizenship, we hope and expect that Japan will continue to respect the ICJ decision.” So said Murray McCully New Zealand's  Minister of Foreign Affairs. Like  him I am not only "disappointed" with the approach taken by Japan,  but disgusted by their total disregard of the ICJ ruling. Come back Sea Shepherd. We need you to sort them out- again!

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Japan Defies Whaling Ban Again

 
Japan will say killing in its own backyard is not 'openly defying' the ICJ's recent ruling! At $US100.00 a pound in Japan, whale meat from one Minke whale could have a retail value of up to $US1 million! This, not scientific purposes is the real reason! Go get 'em Sea Shepherd!
 
Murray Kibblewhite
Author
The Minke Connection 
 
Read more here

Saturday 5 April 2014

Amazing Win for Whales: Japan’s Annual Hunt Ruled Illegal

Yes we're with you Greenpeace jumping for joy as there is likely to be no whaling in the Southern Ocean this summer. The first time since 1904. I hope the whales and dolphins realise this as well!
Murray Kibblewhite
Author
The Minke Connection
Read more here

Friday 4 April 2014

Japan cancels whale hunts for 2014

 
Maybe this ruling was wanted by Japan so they could withdraw  with the minimum of loss of face! But we have to be vigilant and make sure they don't come through another door under some trumped up scientific reason in some other part of the world! If so we could send in John Daroux to sort them out! 
 
 
Murray Kibblewhite
Author
The Minke Connection

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Japan's Whaling Programme Deemed Illegal!

 
At last reason takes over fake scientific bull shit. No doubt some Japanese will cry at the lack of whale meat available from their local fish market. But if they become vegetarian or better still, vegan, then the planet will become a better place for all of us to live in! Congratulations Australia for making this happen. And congratulations Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd for all your efforts over many years.
 
Murray Kibblewhite
Author
The Minke Connection
 

Friday 28 March 2014

World War II-Era Forced Labor Case Hits Chinese Courts





After 70 years, Japan's cruelty to humans is being challenged in the courts. At last this country is being brought to account for its cruelty to humans, whales and other mamals.Maybe they will pay, as the New Zealand Government is for abuses of indigenous people, in this case over 160 years ago.

Murray Kibblewhite
Author
The Minke Connection


A Beijing court is set to hear what could become a landmark legal case as 40 Chinese former forced laborers and descendants of forced laborers are demanding reparations for their time spent working for two Japanese companies during the Second World War. The case comes in the midst of growing diplomatic tensions between Japan and China, and adds more hostility to the already fraught diplomatic relations even as First Lady Michelle Obama arrives in China on a state visit. If the judge rules in favor of the workers, it’s likely to spark a considerable diplomatic furor, as well as setting a distinctive legal precedent.


World War II-era Japan was a rapidly expanding empire with ever-growing labor needs as it sent more and more of its able-bodied personnel to the front. Consequently, the nation turned to the regions it was annexing, such as Manchuria, for sources of forced labor. In addition to the so-called “comfort women” drawn from regions like South Korea, companies like Mitsubishi and the Nippon Coke and Engineering Company (then Mitsui Mining), the ones involved in this case, used Chinese forced labor in their factories.

Read more here