RANT OR RAVE?: Whaling, Where to Next?

I simply do not not know whether to be happy or not that happy with the outcome of the recent International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting held in Agadir, Morocco.

There was much nervousness and angst amongst environmental campaigners and countries like Australia, New Zealand, most of the EU and an entire Latin American bloc that the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling would be overturned. And right they were to be afraid. The tide is turning in favour of those who want a return to all-out commercial whaling, even with 'quotas' in place, bizarre and outrageous as that might sound.

Thirty different meetings were held over more than two days worth of negotiations. On the one hand, environmental organizations like Greenpeace and activist groups like Avaaz declared that their missions  to protest at the IWC talks had been a success. Avaaz, an excellent online activist group, had been able to obtain 1.2-million online signatures (of which I signed and forwarded to many others) in a petition they claim was heard loud and clear in Agadir. It was a tremendous effort and Avaaz deserve all credit for their tenacity in obtaining so many online supporters.

On the other hand, Japan, whaling bastards par excellence, looked decidedly upbeat and with good reason: there has been no moratorium on whaling in the frigid Southern Ocean, where Japanese whaling vessels do most of their massacres. The Japanese claim their culling of whales is for 'scientific purposes', a preposterous pack of lies that fools no one, and thanks to a stupid loophole in the 1986 compromise to ban annual quotas of whale slaughter. They may have wanted a lifting on the ban of whaling for 'non-scientific' purposes and the return of the annual quotas that existed prior to 1986 at this meeting. But the annual slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean will continue unabated next year - yet again.

So, Japan were hardly big losers after all. Right?

The other two nations in the 'Whaling Axis of Evil', Iceland and Norway, also get to keep their refusal to recognize the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. Those two Scandinavian nations are thought to export most of their whale meat to Japan - which is farcical, given that Japan itself has 'mountains of stockpiles of whale meat' already, as according to Greenpeace Japan.

So much for the moral rectitude and 'high ethics' ordinarily attributed to Norway and Iceland. Bloody hypocrites. Shame on them and their people for allowing this slaughter.

And now South Korea wants to have the right to join in on the blood-drenched fun with the Whaling Axis of Evil nations! Jesus wept.

Scandals were rife both prior to and at the Agadir meeting. In the weeks leading up to the critical vote, the media was rife with reports of undercover journalists gathering hard evidence that delegates from poorer nations had been bribed by the Japanese with everything from development 'loans' to free holidays and paid flights to even prostitutes at their hotels. Then at the meeting there was outrage when only governmental delegates were allowed and the doors promptly closed to all NGOs and other observers.

Yet again, an international organization conducts its affairs behind closed doors and in huge secrecy. One can only wonder why.

The IWC is so rife with allegations of corruption and ineptitude it makes FIFA look like the International Red Cross. It's known that the Whaling Axis of Evil nations wield inordinate power in the IWC, particularly the Land of the Rising Sun. Why are countries like Canada no longer members? Why did they leave? And why the hell are some of the IWC member nations landlocked countries (most of them European nations, by the way, and including Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland, as well as other counties without coastlines like Mali and Mongolia)?!

According to Morocco's Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse, "Although it failed to reach a compromise, the meeting of Agadir was described by several participating delegations as a “success” and a “historical turning point”, as the organization remained committed to its mission despite the fundamental disagreements between its members."

Hmmmm, success to whom? Is a stalemate and a firm retention of the current status quo (which still allows hundreds of whales to be slaughtered by Japan, Iceland and Norway) really such a huge success? Perhaps it is success in this day and age of high cynicism (by the Japanese) and downright hypocrisy (read: Iceland and Norway) on the issue of whaling.

Perhaps the likes of Greenpeace and Avaaz can take some comfort in a job well done in protesting a possible lifting on the ban and roll up their sleeves to fight this battle all over again another day. When up against the likes of Japan and Norway, perhaps that is indeed a victory - for now.

And so the species considered to be amongst the most evolved and intelligent on Earth continue to be at the mercy of homo sapiens. A species that has peacefully roamed the great oceans and seas for millenia and which communicate in complex sonar language at the mercy of a species that kills its own, declares war on its own and devastates all that surrounds it.

Pity the whales, to be at the mercy of such a species.


And these are the fights that must still be fought in the second decade of the 21st century?
 
Should this be a rant or a rave? I remain unsure...
 
Do you get my point?

SITE OF THE DAY: The Sea Shepherds

Making the Sea Shepherds my site of the day is overdue. It's a minuscule gesture, less than a drop in the ocean. But my praise for what this organization fights so hard to do could not be more timely, given just how under attack the ocean's whales are yet again.

Visit their excellent site http://www.seashepherd.org/

This is one of the organizations at the forefront of the fight for our oceans.

The man at the helm is Captain Paul Watson, an outspoken and unstoppable environmental campaigner for over 40 years. If you're looking for a lovable, cuddly captain of the high seas this is not your man. Captain Watson is a cantankerous, often unsmiling man. Warm and effusive are not exactly words you'd associate with him. Just watch the excellent series "The Whale Wars" on National Geographic Channel and you'll know precisely what I mean. One doesn't warm to him as a character. I certainly didn't. But who needs a Mr. Nice Guy when instead you have this man who, along with his many crews over the years, has been tireless in his courageous all-out campaigning against whaling in the southern ocean.

The Sea Shepherds have become (in)famous for their annual treks out into the frigid, icy waters of the Southern Ocean as they track and then hound as many of the Japanese 'scientific' whaling vessels that plow those waters during the southern hemisphere summer. These Japanese vessels wreak havoc wherever they go, killing up to hundreds of these magnificent giant mammals of the ocean, using hunting techniques that are as barbaric as whaling has ever been. And will ever be.

The confrontations between the intrepid Sea Shepherd vessels and the Japanese whalers has often been fraught with danger, even violence. This reality came to light on January 5th this year when the Japanese whaling ship, the Shonan Maru 2, deliberately rammed the Sea Shepherd ultra-modern trimarin, the Ady Gil. Two days later the Ady Gil sank. The event sent shockwaves throughout the world, with images of the ramming flooding newscasts and the Net.

It was a blatant, belligerent and illegal act of violence on the high seas by the Japanese against the ant-whaling protesters. It was assuredly an act in contravention of every maritime law in peacetime. It showed the sheer arrogance and impunity of the Japanese whalers.

Subsequent actions by authorities were appalling, both by the Japanese in their infinite capacity for righteous indignation in the face of their barbarity and the Australians, as ever kowtowing in their role as Resource Whore to the Far East, Japan included, of course.

But who the hell cares in the end. The legal and financial repercussions can never be dismissed outright, of course. But the moral imperative and unyielding spirit of those who work for the Sea Shepherds continues unabated, perhaps even more fired than ever.

This organization has come under tremendous fire from different quarters over the years. Many environmentalists question their tactics, citing the opinion that their actions against whalers are quasi-violent and possibly counter-productive. As if trying to harass whaling ships compares to what the whalers are doing to the whales in terms of violence.

They've even been accused of being attention-seekers. As if being out all alone and exposed on the frigid, often turbulent waters of the southern ocean is somehow glamorous and motivated by grabbing headlines. Yeah, for sure.

Even the well-documented antipathy between Captain Watson's posse and Greenpeace is well known. And so be it - every cause has its rivalries and its factions. Such is human nature.

They may come across like a ragged bunch of adventurers out on the high seas. And the provocative pirate-evoking flag that they use on their anti-whaling forays might be more in keeping with their true persona. But their cause is deadly serious. And for all the right reasons.

Bono is a self-important, attention-hogging wannabe activist schmuck and pompous git who deserves all my contempt. Captain Paul Watson is anything but.

These activists don't only fight for the whales of the oceans. They have campaigns for seals, sharks, dolphins and the unique marine ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands. Their latest campaign in 2010 is 'Operation Blue Rage' and is a fight to stop the overfishing to extinction of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. Their flagship, the aptly named Steve Irwin, will depart from New York this Saturday, May 1st, on its way to fight their latest battle in the Mediterranean.

It will be yet another fight by the Sea Shepherds on behalf of the creatures in our oceans, a fight on behalf of the very survival of the oceans and seas themselves.

A fight on behalf of all of us.

And for all of this I salute them.