Space Travel News  
Japan says to spare humpback whales again

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 13, 2008
Japan will again spare humpback whales from its annual Antarctic hunt in the face of strong protests by Australia and environmentalists, an official said Thursday.

Japan last season planned to hunt humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s, enraging Australia where slow progression along the coast and intricate songs have turned the whales into a major tourist attraction

But Japan at the last minute suspended its plan to harpoon 50 humpbacks under an agreement brokered by the US chief of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

"We will refrain from catching humpbacks this season again," said Hideaki Okada, an official at Japan's Fisheries Agency.

"We've been suspending the humpback catch because the IWC chair had requested us to do so to serve efforts to normalise talks at the IWC," he said.

A special envoy has been leading efforts to temper the tone at the IWC, whose meetings had turned into bitter showdowns between whaling supporters and opponents.

Japan aims to kill some 1,000 whales a year using a loophole in a 1986 global whaling moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the ocean giants.

Japan, calling whaling part of its culture, makes no secret the meat ends up on dinner tables. Only Norway and Iceland defy the whaling moratorium entirely.

Last season, Japan caught 551 whales in the northwest Pacific and Antarctic oceans, just over half its target, due to harassment by Sea Shepherd ecological activists who hurled stink bombs and hopped onto the whaling ship.

Okada said Japan was maintaining the target of catching around 1,000 whales in the expedition due to set sail for the Antarctic later this month.

He denied a report Thursday in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper which said that Japan was cutting its whaling target by one-quarter.

Sea Shepherd militants have vowed again to physically stop the Japanese whalers, with captain Paul Watson saying Thursday that Hollywood mermaid Daryl Hannah will be joining the anti-whaling campaign at the end of the month.

But the more moderate environmental group Greenpeace has said it will not chase the whalers this year, instead focusing on clearing two activists facing prison in Japan related to an investigation into whaling.

Related Links
Follow the Whaling Debate



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Whales lose as top US court says Navy can keep sonar
Washington (AFP) Nov 12, 2008
The US Supreme Court Wednesday ruled the US Navy can continue to use long-range sonar in exercises off the California coast, dismissing arguments that the practice was harmful to whales.







  • NASA to test Orion launch abort system
  • First Rocket Parts Of NASA's New Launch System Arrive In Florida
  • More design flaws found in Ares I rocket
  • Copenhagen Suborbitals Tests Hybrid Rocket

  • ILS Proton Successfully Launches ASTRA 1M Satellite
  • Ariane 5 Is Readied For Arianespace's Initial Mission Of 2009
  • Russia Set To Launch SES Telecoms Satellite
  • Student Experiments On Board REXUS 4 Launched

  • Weather good for Friday shuttle launch: NASA
  • Endeavour Blasts Into Orbit In Procedure Perfect Launch
  • Shuttle Endeavour set for 'home improvement' mission
  • Endeavour Speeds Towar Space Station

  • Shuttle crew to outfit living quarters on space station
  • Progress Cargo Module To Undock From ISS Friday
  • Two US astronauts to cast votes from space
  • Expedition 17 Set To Undock Today

  • Space Researchers Developing Tool To Help Disoriented Pilots
  • Kazakh Astronaut To Fly To ISS, Russian Hopeful Grounded
  • Volan Escape System To Rescue Space Crews
  • Second Japanese woman to blast into space: agency

  • China Puts Two Satellites Into Orbit
  • The Chinese Space Industry Set For Take Off
  • Souped-Up Rockets For Shenzhou
  • China Successfully Launches Research Satellites

  • Honda unveils leg assist machine for elderly
  • Germany's CESAR Crowned King Of Rovers In ESA's Robotics Challenge
  • Cliffbot Goes Climbing
  • VIPeR Robot Demonstrates Exceptional Agility

  • A Divining Rod For Mars
  • Controllers Cheer As Data Arrive from NASA's Spirit Rover
  • India to take second moon shot by 2012, eyes Mars
  • Dust Storm Cuts Energy Supply Of NASA Mars Rover Spirit

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement