Japan whaling season cut short despite $30 million USD stimulus. - Polidicks

[release]Japan's Fisheries agency has told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the country's whaling fleet is heading home, after catching less than a third of its quota in the Antarctic. [b]That's despite the fleet getting an extra 31.9 million US dollars this year.[/b] Speaking to the ABC in Tokyo the Japanese Fisheries Agency revealed the whaling fleet finished its hunt three days ago and is now heading for home. The agency also confirmed the fleet caught 266 minke whales, less than 30 % of its quota. [b]The whalers also harpooned a single fin whale, despite having a quota of 50.[/b] The Sea Shepherd conservation group which harassed the fleet in the Antarctic says it's a massive victory for whales. Despite receiving a special budget boost of 31.9 million US dollars to fend off Sea Shepherd, the Japanese whalers were repeatedly obstructed by the activists. The Australian government says it welcomes Japan's decision to recall its whaling fleet from the Southern Ocean. It says it remains opposed to commercial whaling, including Japan's so called "scientific" whaling program. [b]The Australian government says Australia will continue its efforts to achieve a permanent end to whaling through the International Court of Justice.[/b] [/release] [url]http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201203/3449811.htm?desktop[/url] Giving the industry 30 million dollars of Tsunami relief money... not such a good idea. That 30 million could've done a load of good in a non-lethal research program but whatever.

Still way to many if you ask me. Good to see it down though, I don't think they should get an aid (though it isn't right to punish people who have no involvement in the matter) if they're committing crimes or allowing violations like illegal whaling to continue.

Stupid idea to give 30 million to an industry that was unprofitable and dying before the tsunami to begin with. I don't even get from an ecnomic stand point why they keep trying, isn't there a massive surperlus of whale meat + no demand at all?

[QUOTE=MR-X;35061171]Still way to many if you ask me. Good to see it down though, I don't think they should get an aid (though it isn't right to punish people who have no involvement in the matter) if they're committing crimes or allowing violations like illegal whaling to continue.[/QUOTE] The problem with that is who you ask. The legality of everything related to this is subject to opinion. I don't blame the whalers, they're just doing their job. It's the government and operators that are forcing them to go back each year. Best thing we can do in the legal world is the wait for the International Court of Justice to see the case made by the Australian Government. Which If I remember right is in 2014. However, The southern ocean fleet is just one of many. Iceland still kills Fin whales as does Norway, and Japan has a coastal fleet (albeit that was practically whipped out by the tsunami) and a northern pacific season. These are harder to pounce on because they don't take place in disputed territory. [editline]9th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Saxon;35061195]Stupid idea to give 30 million to an industry that was unprofitable and dying before the tsunami to begin with. I don't even get from an ecnomic stand point why they keep trying, isn't there a [b]massive surperlus of whale meat[/b] + no demand at all?[/QUOTE] That's another thing that depends on who you ask. People that support whaling say they need more, people that are against it say there's a stock.

Why the [B]FUCK[/B] did my government give them ANY money for this shit. That's fucking absurd.

This should help the whale population to grow back. I think over-whaling is a bad thing for the environment. They should farm fish or catch fish instead

[QUOTE=ewitwins;35061437]Why the [B]FUCK[/B] did my government give them ANY money for this shit. That's fucking absurd.[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-08/japan-whaling-tsunami/51744710/1]It doesn't sound like any government gave Japan relief money [i]for[/i] whaling.[/url] Any idea how they came up with that 31.9 million USD figure? I can't find any matching sources.

[QUOTE=Night-Eagle;35061615][url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-08/japan-whaling-tsunami/51744710/1]It doesn't sound like any government gave Japan relief money [i]for[/i] whaling.[/url] Any idea how they came up with that 31.9 million USD figure? I can't find any matching sources.[/QUOTE] [url]http://news.discovery.com/earth/japan-uses-tsunami-funds-to-support-whaling-fleet-111208.html[/url] [url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/07/japan-whaling-fleet-tsunami-earthquake-funds[/url] Nobody gave any money for whaling. They took money from the relief aid and gave it to the whaling fleet in hopes that it would bring a successful year. [editline]9th March 2012[/editline] They gave 2.28 billion yen, which doing the calculation on Google comes up to $27,876,192.0. I guess it depends on who you talk to as to how it's rounded. I remember when this came to light. First it was "about 28 million" then it got rounded to "30 million" and then I'm guessing this source rounded that to "31 million" because I've never seen that figure.

I just want to ask, did they retreat only because of the activists getting in their way, or could it because they cannot find the whales due to over-whaling?

Should be illegal.

Wow okay, thanks Japan for using the money WE gave you to help your people, and turn around and fuck them over. That makes me feel like they deserve our trust.

I find it fucking retarded how they're going "it's for scientific purposes" when anybody with a shred of common sense knows it's not. Thousands of whales per year is [b]way[/b] more than is needed for scientific purposes.

i'm gonna be so happy once this awful industry is finally dead

i didnt know it cost so much money to clean stinky butter off their ships.

[QUOTE=Sgt. Khorn;35061793]I just want to ask, did they retreat only because of the activists getting in their way, or could it because they cannot find the whales due to over-whaling?[/QUOTE] Again, depends who you ask. Sea Shepherd claim they started retreating as soon as their "factory" (processing) ship was found by the activists and they gave up because of that. Most of the 30million extra was used on funding extra boats to tail/slow down the sea shepherd boats.

I don't care about the money, but I found it interesting how they managed to catch [b]one[/b] Fin Whale out of the quota of [b]50[/b].

[QUOTE=Sgt. Khorn;35061793]I just want to ask, did they retreat only because of the activists getting in their way, or could it because they cannot find the whales due to over-whaling?[/QUOTE] Sea Shepherd has been tailing the fleet since day one with drones but one of their ships was crippled by a rouge wave which set them back. The whalers used two of their ships to follow SS leaving only one harpoon ship to hunt. Sea Shepherd just caught up with the main factory ship of the fleet essentially making further hunting a waste of time and money so they're heading home. [editline]9th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Bat-shit;35063224]I don't care about the money, but I found it interesting how they managed to catch [b]one[/b] Fin Whale out of the quota of [b]50[/b].[/QUOTE] Unlike Minke, Fin whale [I]is[/I] endangered, and their true population is disputed, at best.

[B][I][U]Research purposes only[/U][/I][/B]

[QUOTE=Lhuth;35062526]Most of the 30million extra was used on funding extra boats to tail/slow down the sea shepherd boats.[/QUOTE] Wow, really? Didn't know SS was bothering them so much to the point where they waste millions just to stop them. That's pretty cool.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGFFyqTe0u0[/media] Whales are amazing animals and we've already destroyed their way of communication by populating the oceans.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;35064023]Wow, really? Didn't know SS was bothering them so much to the point where they waste millions just to stop them. That's pretty cool.[/QUOTE] They used it to give the Shonan Maru #2 a new paint job and put Japanese coast guard personnel on board. As well as other security measures. [img]http://i.imgur.com/3MLaO.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/gZfQx.jpg[/img] (picture taken by one of Sea Shepherds drones in the opening days of the season) The whalers left early last season citing SS as the reason, and they leave this season 3 days after SS finally catches up to their main ship. I'd say it's had quite an effect on them. Oh, and then there's this fun little tidbit: [quote=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Cetacean_Research#cite_note-STREET_FIGHT-25]There are estimates by the World Wildlife Fund that the Japanese government has had to invest $12 million into the 2008-09 hunt alone just to break even, and that subsidies in total have amounted to approximately $150 million since 1988[/quote]