Whaling Wars: Japan wrong on science and in breach of U.N. international convention

This week the Government of Japan began its trial of two Greenpeace activists who blew the whistle on an allegedly illegal trade in whale meat within that country.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission has informed the Japanese Government that it is in breach of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in relation to detention of the Tokyo Two.




This is how Asahi Shimbun sees the trial and this below appears to be the newspaper's current position on whales:

A large whale apparently devours more than 5 tons of krill and small fish per day. One can only imagine the consequences of protecting such a big eater alone could have on the ecosystem......
Because we humans lord it over the land and because the oceans seem all too powerful, we have been too indifferent to their debilitation.
Unlawful actions against research whaling do nothing but distract people's attention from the true peril. It is time to repay the oceans with our wisdom.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 8

A position which is not supported by science according to Discovery News:

Meanwhile,a new study has cast doubt on one of the key arguments of those responsible for Japan's Antarctic whaling program: that the region's minke whales have increased greatly in number in response to greater availability of krill, following the reduction of populations of other whale species as blue, fin and humpback. According to this argument, hunting minke whales therefore not only does not pose a threat to the species, it actually helps those other species.
The new study, funded by the Lenfest Ocean Program and published in the journal Molecular Ecology, used analyses of genetic diversity to examine whether there was evidence that numbers of minke whales in the Antarctic have increased in recent decades. Its authors, led by Kristen Ruegg of Stanford University, extracted DNA from 52 whale meat samples purchased in Japan from minkes killed within four Antarctic management areas. As large populations tend to have more genetic variation than small ones, which have more inbreeding, the researchers were able to use the amount of genetic variation within the population to calculate its historical size. They concluded that the long-term population size of Antarctic minke whales is 670,000, which falls within the range of estimates derived from several ship-based surveys and is indeed in excess of a more recent unofficial estimate of 338,000.
Ruegg and colleagues speculate that one possible reason why minke whales might not have grown in number in response to the greater availability of krill is that minkes may have never experienced strong competition for food because krill may have been abundant enough for all predators, both prior to historic whaling and today. Alternatively, minke whales may not eat krill at the same time, in the same areas or at the same depths as larger whales.

The world according to Abbott in 150 words or less

The world according to Tony Abbott in 150 words or less....

Garrett has committed the equivalent of industrial manslaughter, Stephen Conroy is a Labor bagman carrying election bribes to the media, the poor often prefer to be penniless and homeless, the country will be better off if more income producing government assets are sold, unfair dismissal rules and penalty rates for weekend work should be tossed out the window, NSW & QLD public hospitals would be more economically viable if run by the mates network, a dying Bernie was faking his indignation, it is always the the highway's fault when my official car cuts in front of a truck, every young girl should go to her marriage bed gift-wrapped as a virgin, only women should do the household ironing, climate science is crap, the national economy is boring and my knob is so-o-o much bigger than Kevin Rudd's so you should trust me.

It literally took Barnaby Joyce years before he permanently parted company from reality and started to spout nonsense - the current Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has reached la-la land much sooner it seems.

International Women's Day Brunch, Yamba 6 March 2010

LOWER CLARENCE WOMEN’S GROUP
INVITES YOU TO

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
BRUNCH

SATURDAY 6 MARCH 2010
10 AM – 11.30 AM

TREELANDS DRIVE COMMUNITY CENTRE YAMBA

GUEST SPEAKERS
‘Love Bites Program’
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Youthful voice & guitar’

RAFFLE for local Women’s project
‘Deborah Novak mounted photos’

DONATIONS TO UNIFEM

Cost: $10 per person Concession $5.00

Please book by Thursday 4 March
Yamba Community Centre
Tel: 6646 1478

General enquiries:
Susan Howland – 6645 0001 or 6646 2129 or 0427 975 131
susan.howland@clarence.nsw.gov.au

Support of the Office for Women’s Policy and Clarence Valley Council is appreciated.

How we found out that there is a bunyip in the creek

Possibly a true story.....

The day was just like many others. Dusk was falling and the frogs were warming up for the night-time chorus.

Then we heard a strange yodelling sound and looking down towards the flat we saw someone running up the creek bank and falling into the long grass.
So the hubby and I jumped into the paddock basher and motored down to see what was going on.

Lying in the paddock was the next door neighbour "Bob" as naked as the day he was born. The smell on his breath left no doubt that a large amount of alcohol had been consumed (and possibly a assortment of other rather more illegal substances).

He was mumbling about being attacked by a large, black, hairy bunyip.
So on the lookout for Bob’s clothes and the bunyip, I grabbed a bucket and headed down to the creek to get some water as our neighbour was not in good straits.

After we cleaned him up we loaded him into the Torana and drove him home.
His wife strongly objected to him entering the house, so Hubby took him into the shed. A couple of horse blankets on the hay and Bob was as snug as a bug in a rug.

On the back veranda I found an esky with one long neck and quite a few empties.
I filled these empties up with water, replaced the screw caps and took them down to the shed.

Bob was regaling Hubby about the bunyip and how it attacked him: his heroic efforts to fight the dreaded beast and how he escaped its clutches.

Seeing me or more likely the beer, Bob insisted that he needed drink. I gave Hubby the only bottle of beer left in the esky which he and Bob shared while I went back to the house.

When I returned Bob was still worried that the bunyip was coming to get him, so Hubby had convinced him that I knew a sure fire bunyip stopping spell.
Glaring at both of them, I told them that I could cast a bunyip proof barrier around the shed, but if I did both of them will have to stay in there till dawn. Hubby fairly bolted out of the shed.

In casting my sure fire spell I walked around the shed reciting all of the plant botanical names I could think of - finishing with a rousing chorus of “grevillea robusta, GREVILLEA ROBUSTA, GREVILLEA ROBUSTA!"

Bob looked happy when I completed the circuit of the shed and the spell was in place, but as we started to leave his doubts grew.

It was then I remembered that a side effect of this spell is that it makes beer go flat and taste like water. Bob was keen to try the beer and to his surprise the spell worked. He was very pleased when I counselled that if he needed to check if the spell was still working all he had to do was have another bottle of 'beer' from the esky.

Would you believe it we finally arrived home in time to feed the Angus poddy calf.