Whale harpooned in front of whale-watching tourists

[mislav]

August 25, 2007

Whale harpooned, hauled in by Japanese boat in front of whale-watching tourists

SAPPORO -- Eco-tourists on a whale-watching vessel, looking forward to observing the mighty creatures in their natural habitat, were instead greeted by the sight of a harpooned whale being dragged in by a Japanese whaling vessel on Friday.

At about 10:44 a.m. on Friday, a whale was spotted spraying water from its blowhole near a whaling boat, about 3.5 kilometers away from the whale-watching vessel off the coast of Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula. But when the vessel approached, the passengers on board found that the whalers had harpooned the Baird's beaked whale, and it was hauled in by the whaling boat about 20 minutes later.

About 20 passengers on the whale-watching vessel looked on, voicing their pity as the whale was captured. A French woman who was on the vessel with her husband reportedly said the experience made her feel ill.

There were two other whale-watching boats nearby, but one of them left after a child started crying.

The 46-year-old captain of the passenger vessel was disappointed by the incident, which took place about 14 kilometers east of Rausu Port in Hokkaido.

"It's my job to show people whales and it's the whalers' job to catch them, but I wonder how this can be avoided," he said.

One of the two whaling companies operating the whaling ship, meanwhile, filed a protest against the whale watching vessel with the Rausu town government.

"The passenger boat approached us, which was extremely dangerous. We think this could be considered dangerous sailing, and we want you to issue a warning," the protest said.

Here's the link to the original story.

Sad, sad story. Hopefully, incidents such as this one will help demonstrate how whaling doesn't make sense or cents to sustain it.

 

[CApenguin88]

unfortantely whaling is so apart of Japan's culture that its going to be years until Japan might stop whaling and even then i don't think it will ever go away. I did a research paper on the topic of Japanese whaling and Wyland's whaling wall in a whaling village and through the research i found out that the whaling industry is basically like a family industry in each village...

 

[Hemlon]

:11:

Wow!

 

[Zingtea]

One of the two whaling companies operating the whaling ship, meanwhile, filed a protest against the whale watching vessel with the Rausu town government.

"The passenger boat approached us, which was extremely dangerous. We think this could be considered dangerous sailing, and we want you to issue a warning," the protest said.

I can hardly believe the audacity these killers must have to protest against witnesses of their crime and act like they're the victims.

 

[bvmjethead]

 

[DavidPT40]

Asian countries have a horrible track record in consuming wild and rare animals. They are eating the animals right into extinction. They see the animals as having no other value besides being a food or a magical medicine. Thats the real problem. The Japanese are actually cooperating a bit with the rest of the Western world, whereas the Chinese still gobble down tiger penises and grind up elephant and rhino tusks as a magical power, or make magical potions out of bear bile.

If there was ever an ecological disaster, this is one.

 

[ScubaGir1]

Oh wow
How sad...

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Asian countries have a horrible track record in consuming wild and rare animals. They are eating the animals right into extinction. They see the animals as having no other value besides being a food or a magical medicine. Thats the real problem. The Japanese are actually cooperating a bit with the rest of the Western world, whereas the Chinese still gobble down tiger penises and grind up elephant and rhino tusks as a magical power, or make magical potions out of bear bile.

If there was ever an ecological disaster, this is one.

With all due respect, the harpooning of one whale hardly qualifies as an ecological disaster.

And while there may be specific cases where a species has been "eaten into extinction", although I'd want to see some citations, you want to take it easy when making sweeping generalizations on an international board.

Nearly every society on the planet, including American society, can be accused of contributing in some way to the genuine cumulative ecological disaster that is occurring on a global scale like a train-wreck in slow motion.

"People who live in glass houses" and all...

Regards,

Doc

 

[drbill]

Although the incident is indeed a sad one, and I find the whaling company's protest to be ludicrous, Doc Intrepid is right. This is an international board and we have to respect cultural differences. This is not to say I think making statements about this specific incident is inappropriate.

The USA certainly has a long track record of environmental degradation, including being a major contributor to global warming which affects everyone on the planet. We need to continue to clean our own house before making such pronouncements.

 

[RoyN]

Asian countries have a horrible track record in consuming wild and rare animals. They are eating the animals right into extinction. They see the animals as having no other value besides being a food or a magical medicine. Thats the real problem. The Japanese are actually cooperating a bit with the rest of the Western world, whereas the Chinese still gobble down tiger penises and grind up elephant and rhino tusks as a magical power, or make magical potions out of bear bile.

When I was in Vietnam doing diving over there, people eat dogs, cats, and other animals. Even one of the divemaster had rice and a piece of some parts of a cat or dog and she said it was good too. So we dove together and I didn't mind at all because they can't afford anything at all. Otherwise...

Cheers, Royston Nguyen