Japanese Whaling Ship Collides with Protesters (or vice versa)

[NM_Birder]

59. I'm learning a lot more about whaling and the moratoriums than I expected.

I'm no sure why I can't link to the moratorium, but it's a pretty interesting read.

There is more to it than these little snippets, .......it's worth a read. these are just a few notes, it's more complicated than most think.

1991: Scientific Committee submitted that 761,000 Minke whales in the Antarctic waters
suggested that up to 2000 could be harvested annually without disturbing the population.

IWC Plenary Committee voted to maintain moratorium.

1994: Acting on the recommendations of the Scientific Committee, IWC adopted a computerized formula, the RMP "revised management process" for allowable numbers of some whale species to be harvested, but did not implement the adopted formula, arguing that allowable catches had not been adequately evaluated. The moratorium was not lifted, because the IWC noted a need to agree on standards for data, inspections and monitoring. An RMS, "revised management scheme" along with the RMP is proving to be all but impossible to agree on, and with the Annual meeting, Bi annual meeting and lack of coordination, it seems to have just stalled on the 50 yard line. "YES" and "NO" to Minke harvest numbers.

Japan, Russia, Iceland, Peru, Norway, Italy, Mexico and New Zealand are all involved in various levels of rejection of the IWC protocols. And with the IWC protocols not being very clear in the first place, both Japan and the IWC are correct in their interpretations of the rules, which is why a "research" vessel is allowed to harvest whales, AND asked not to let the meat go to waste. A little blindness and slight of hand is what's going on from both sides.

It's more complicated than it should be, and it's a lot less clear than it could have been. Japan is not right to harvest the whales, yet at the same time they are not wrong, that is why the only people disrupting them are the Shea Shepard vessels ramming into them. At some point, someone is going to be killed, or a ship will be sunk, with no clear path to who was right and who was wrong.

I've heard about the whaling and Sea Sheppard for years but never really researched it, there is a lot more to this than is being explained, it's got my interest so I'll call the thread a "win".