It was good to see Dr. Derek Wall, Green Party Principal Speaker, speak out today in support of the two Sea Shepherd activists being detained by the Japanese harpoon vessel 'Yushin Maru' in the Southern Ocean, and demanded their unconditional release.
Speaking as a possible rescue deal is being offered by the new Labour Australian Government, Dr. Wall said "I encourage every person who is as appalled by the slaughter of whales as I am to contact Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to demand the immediate release of these two activists. The Japanese are committing a serious offence, tantamount to piracy,
by holding them on board their ship. Sea Shepherd, and the many other anti-whaling groups, should be applauded for their work and energy in trying to save these magnificent and important animals from extinction. Despite the international ban on commercial whale hunting, Japanese crews are on a mission to kill about 850 minke whales and 10 fin
whales, claiming this is for scientific research. But this is simply a tactic to circumvent the regulations, and amounts to commercial whaling in all but name. Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane from Sea-Shepherd were captured while they were seeking to stop the Japanese whaling fleets’ illegal slaughter."
Join me and others in sending your email to:
Kanteihp-info@cas.go.jp
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From Schnews:
STOP BLUBBERING!
Illegal Japanese whaling activity has been brought to the world's
attention this week with the kidnapping on Tuesday night (15th) of two
activists from the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling vessel the Steve Irwin.
Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane boarded a Japanese whaling ship to protest
against the cruel and illegal activity and quickly found themselves
in captivity.
They were there to deliver a letter reminding the whalers that they
were in violation of international conservation law by targeting
endangered species in an established whale sanctuary. No doubt embarrassed
by the impending bad publicity - like the 50-strong protest outside
the London embassy on Wednesday - the Japanese government quickly
agreed to ensure that the activists were handed back, even as they
condemned the action saying that the hunting ship Yushin Maru had done
nothing wrong. Despite this they did released the two into the care of an
Australian Customs ship on Thursday. Ben and Giles now plan to return
to the Steve Irwin and continue the fight as soon as possible.
According to the Oxford English dictionary, a hostage is "a person
seized or held in order to induce others to comply with a demand or
condition" - something that's generally accepted as being against the law.
Shortly after Benjamin and Giles boarded the Yushin, the
euphemistically entitled Institute of Cetacean Research contacted the Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society (who run the Steve Irwin) demanding they stop
all protest activity - if they agreed, then they could have their
activists back. "They are acting like a terrorist organization," said
Steve Irwin's 1st Officer Peter Brown. "Here they are taking hostages
and making demands. Our policy is that we don't respond to terrorist
demands."
Instead they continue to disrupt the hunt for endangered whales in the
Southern Oceans Whale Sanctuary, where their presence, and that of
Greenpeace, has ensured no whales have been killed since January 11th.
This is not helping the Japanese with their plan to kill 935 minke
whales and 50 fin whales in the Southern Ocean this summer for er,
'scientific research.' (All 985? Really?!) The artful description is to get
round international law as the moratorium on commercial whaling does
not cover slaughter for scientific reasons. But in truth, it's a
flagrant two-fingers up to the world by the Japanese goverment, who know
that everyone else is too gutless to make a meal of it - unlike them
as nearly all of their research killings end up inside the belly of
a Japanese diner.
And it's no painless party for the endangered whales before they end up
as lunch either - in a foreword to a recent Whalewatch report, Sir
David Attenborough says that, "there is no humane way to kill a whale
at sea." Whalewatch found that in 60% of cases Japanese whalers did
not kill their prey outright and it sometimes took up to two hours for
the animals to die.
The United Nations World Charter for Nature gives authority to
individuals to act on behalf of and enforce international conservation laws.
You can find out more about the campaign to stop whaling at
www.whalewatch.org and keep apace with the actions against it at
www.seashepherd.org
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