Australia to oppose Iceland whaling

Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Australia to oppose Iceland whaling

Australia is totally opposed to the resumption of commercial whaling by Iceland, environment minister Malcolm Turnbull has said.
(snip)

“Australia is implacably opposed to commercial whaling, and we believe Iceland's actions are in breach of the moratorium upheld by the international community for 20 years,” he said.

“What is particularly deplorable is that Iceland is targeting Fin whales. (They) are listed under the International Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species as endangered, which sadly means they face a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.”

Iceland says it is not bound by the moratorium agreed to by International Whaling Commission members because it withdrew in 1992, and joined again ten years later after declaring they accepted the ban with reservations.
(snip/...)

http://ibnnews.org/national/australia_to_oppose_iceland_whaling_resumption_7307_9517530805_0000000.html

Posted on Thu, Mar. 01, 2007
Anti-whaler nations give Japan a warning
RAY LILLEY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Anti-whaling nations New Zealand and Australia vowed Thursday to continue the fight to end Japan's annual whale hunts, warning that its plans to kill humpback whales off Antarctica in December could spark outrage. The warning comes just a day after Japan ended its latest southern whale program following a deadly fire that crippled the mother ship of its whaling fleet and left it drifting near the Antarctic coast. A crewman died in the fire.

While New Zealand warned the incident could have sparked an "ecological disaster," Japanese officials had said it posed no threat to the environment and will not lead Japan to call off future kills.

"The (whaling) program will resume in December in the Antarctic," a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, Glenn Inwood, said Thursday. It would hunt minke, fin and humpback whales.

Japan claims its whaling program provides crucial scientific data for the International Whaling Commission - which sanctions the annual hunts - on populations, feeding habits and distribution of the mammals in the seas near Antarctica.

New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter said the hunt due to resume in southern waters in December was likely to cause "further outrage."
(snip/...)

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/16810718.htm

I'd like to see Australia register the Sea Shepherd ships.

It would do more good than a lot of hot air.

themselves.

More's the pity.

But Australia could assist Sea Shepherd by removing their pirate status, and allowing them to refuel
in our ports.

Just takes a bit of collective courage ...