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Water National 22/01/08 Flight spies on Japan whaling Andrew Darby, Hobart, The Age
21/01/08 Greenpeace maintains pressure on whale fleet Andrew Darby and Orietta Guerrera, The Age Antarctica Links
15/01/08 Japan eyes resuming commercial whaling AAP Antarctica Australia Japan ; International Whaling Commission
Andrew Darby, Hobart, The Age
January 22, 2008
THE Australian Government has flown its first surveillance mission as forces step up around the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic.
The flight, by an extended range Airbus, together with the appearance of a Japanese fishing boat said to be shadowing Sea Shepherd, raise spying over the "scientific" whaling program to a new level.
There are also signs that with the rising international attention, the program is increasingly being questioned at home in Tokyo.
The Airbus A-319, fitted out with surveillance and imaging equipment, is, with the customs patrol ship Oceanic Viking, part of the Rudd Government's program to gather evidence for potential international legal action against the whaling.
The aircraft performed well when it ran a six-hour low-level search pattern out of Hobart on Sunday, locating two foreign fishing vessels in Antarctic high seas, a spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Minister, Bob Debus, said yesterday.
Bad weather prevented it from flying into its original search area, but depending on the weather conditions and the activities of the whaling fleet, the A-319 would fly another mission again soon, the spokeswoman said.
The fleet and its pursuers battened down against bad weather at the weekend in waters south-west of Australia. But in moderating conditions yesterday the re-supply ship Oriental Bluebird was steaming alongside the factory ship Nisshin Maru, according to Greenpeace.
Greenpeace International's whales campaign co-ordinator, Sara Holden, said their vessel Esperanza was still following Nisshin Maru and in turn it was being tailed by Yushin Maru No.2, the catcher ship at the centre of last week's detention crisis involving Sea Shepherd activists.
Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson, said his vessel, the Steve Irwin, had been followed for three days by a Japanese stern trawler that he believed was reporting the Irwin's movements.
"The Fukuyoshi Maru No.68 is a large drag trawler," Captain Watson said. "It's a fast ship and can easily stay out of reach of the Steve Irwin. The Sea Shepherd helicopter has flown over the ship and it is not equipped with any fishing gear that can be seen. There is evidence of electronic surveillance gear."
Captain Watson said after losing touch with the fleet on Friday he had been given their co-ordinate and was at least two days' sailing away.
Andrew Darby and Orietta Guerrera, The Age
January 21, 2008
Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru steamed on through turbulent Southern Ocean weather with Greenpeace's Esperanza still locked behind it yesterday as disruption to its whaling season continued.
The eight-day pursuit was beginning to cut seriously into the 985-whale target that the Japanese whalers have set for this season, but gale-force winds also prevented any whaling in the local area south-west of Australia.
Meanwhile, after losing contact with the whaling fleet late on Friday, Sea Shepherd's ship, the Steve Irwin, was hunting for the whalers again.
Captain Paul Watson said his ship was dragged away from the Japanese whaling fleet in order to make contact with the customs patrol ship Oceanic Viking.
Captain Watson said storm conditions were hampering Sea Shepherd efforts to locate the Japanese fleet, with his crew encountering wind speeds of 30 to 40 knots and swells of about 5.5 metres.
He said a helicopter that Sea Shepherd has used for surveillance patrols had been grounded until the storm abated.
"The strong storm conditions prevent them from whaling but it also prevents us from getting out there and finding them," Captain Watson said.
"Without the helicopter we're sort of blind here, just looking at the radar sightings."
Greenpeace has a policy of refusing to provide position co-ordinates to Sea Shepherd, because of its methods of attacking the whaling fleet, instead of intervening peacefully.
The Japan Whaling Association said Australian authorities should have detained two Sea Shepherd activists who boarded the whale chaser Yushin Maru No. 2, rather than use the Oceanic Viking to take them back to the Steve Irwin.
"It is obvious they would rather assist Sea Shepherd with its violent illegal actions against Japan's perfectly legal research program," whaling association president Keiichi Nakajima said.
Oceanic Viking, which was dispatched to the area to monitor the Japanese whale hunt on behalf of the Australian Government, became involved as an intermediary in the dispute, partly at the request of the Japanese Government.
The two Sea Shepherd activists, Australian man Benjamin Potts and British crew member Giles Lane, were handed over to the Australian Customs ship after being held for two days on Yushin Maru No. 2 and transferred safely to the Sea Shepherd ship.
Water National 11/01/08 Follow that whale, protest ship 'told'Andrew Darby, Hobart, The Age our highlighting
Japan eyes resuming commercial whaling
January 15, 2008 - 11:25PM, AAP
Japan has admitted its so-called scientific whaling is a precursor to the resumption of commercial whaling.
Writing exclusively in The West Australian, Minoru Morimoto, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), said because Australia did not intend to resume commercial whaling, it had no need for the scientific data required for a "sustainable management regime".
"However, since this is the purpose of Japan's research there are some kinds of indispensable data that simply cannot be obtained by non-lethal means," he said.
Greenpeace whales campaigner Rob Nicoll said whaling had never proven sustainable.
"The IWC scientific committee has been quite clear in condemning the so-called research findings of the Japanese scientific whaling program, clearly stating that it's unwanted and unnecessary information," he said.
"All the information they have could be quite easily found through non-lethal means."
Japan Whaling Association president Keiichi Nakajima said Australia's determination to lead international efforts to stop Japan's whaling practices was "arrogant and an insult to Japanese people and their culture".
Anti-whaling activists have criticised the comments, with Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson saying culture was not a justification for flouting laws.
"Japan is violating international law by targeting endangered species in a whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium and they are conducting an economic activity in the Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone," he said.
"They (the Japanese) are criminals."
Japan is threatening to snub the IWC and form its own organisation if Australia does not agree to discuss plans to allow the resumption of "sustainable whaling".
Mr Morimoto claimed the IWC had passed the global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982 without any scientific justification.