As 2007 draws to a conclusion, I make my final entry for the year, in the form of a challenge: Can anyone identify this critter?
I photographed it on the distinctive new foliage of a juvenile mahogany (Dysoxylum sp.) and it is about 2 mm long (cerci excluded).
For 2008, I wish our entire readership all the very best.
On December 19, 2007 Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Stephen Smith, issued a joint media release with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Mr Peter Garrett.
The release states that “Australia strongly believes that there is no credible scientific justification for the hunting of whales and is opposed to all commercial and ‘scientific’ whaling” and notes that “the Australian Government will step up efforts to end this senseless and brutal practice, using a range of diplomatic, legal and monitoring and surveillance initiatives” that “the Government is giving serious consideration to a range of options for international legal action against Japan” and that “the Government will develop its own proposal for improving and modernising the IWC, which will include closing the loophole that allows for scientific whaling.”
In the proper context of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) and the International Whaling Commission (IWC) these comments of the Government of Australia are provocative and absurd. The fact is that the ICRW is about properly managing the whaling industry by regulating catch quotas at levels so that whale stocks will not be diminished. The Convention is not about protecting all whales irrespective of their abundance.
Further, the fact that Australia was a whaling country when it agreed to and signed the ICRW and subsequently changed its position to an anti-whaling position following the closure of its industry in the 1970s does not change the Convention. If Australia can no longer agree to the Convention it should withdraw rather than subvert its purpose. Smith and Garrett can ignore these facts but they cannot change them.
Australia together with other anti-whaling members of the IWC have sacrificed the principles of science-based management and sustainable use that are the world standard (and supported by Australia in other international fora and for the management of their own resources) as a political expediency to satisfy the interests of non-government organizations.
This has made the IWC dysfunctional and threatens much-needed international cooperation required to properly manage and conserve all marine resources.
It is of considerable concern therefore that Australia’s stepped up efforts to end commercial and scientific whaling will undermine the work of the current IWC Chairman (William Hogarth of the United States) to resolve the dysfunctional nature of the organization and return it to its proper functioning as a resource management organization.
Japan’s whaling is not “senseless and brutal”. Neither is it illegal in any way. The most recent review of Japan’s research whaling program in the Antarctic by the IWC’s Scientific Committee in December 2006 concluded that “the dataset provides a valuable resource to allow investigation of some aspects of the role of whales within the marine ecosystem and that this has the potential to make an important contribution to the Scientific Committee’s work in this regard as well as the work of other relevant bodies such as the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources”. The Scientific Committee also agreed to its earlier (1997) conclusion that the results from the research program “have the potential to improve management of minke whales in the Southern Hemisphere”.
The suggestion of Smith and Garrett that somehow Japan’s whale research program is a violation of international law and that Japan is not acting in accordance with its international treaty obligations is totally without foundation. Article VIII of the ICRW unequivocally provides the right of members of the IWC to kill whales for research purposes and further states that “the killing, taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention.” Conversely, the fact that the Government of Australia has publicly stated that it no longer accepts the terms of the ICRW and yet continues to participate in the IWC is a self indictment that it has failed to meet its legal obligation to interpret and implement its treaty obligations in good faith.
Finally, Smith and Garrett note that “Australia values its extensive and mutually beneficial relationship with Japan” and that “as in any close relationship there are some issues on which we cannot agree”. In the face of this disagreement on whaling, Australia’s determination “to play a leading role in international efforts to stop Japan’s whaling practices” is arrogant and an insult to Japanese people and their culture.
A more constructive approach with less media hype is needed.
Keiichi NAKAJIMA
President, Japan Whaling Association
28 December 2007
Such is the power of politics, driven by concerns about global warming, that according to the US-based online journal Grist, the tide has turned against coal and it is now officially “the enemy of the human race” with the states of California, Kansas, Florida and Washington denying permits or contracts for new coal-fired power stations.
It is also increasingly difficult for companies to undertake petroleum exploration in the US with production from existing fields not being replaced because potential new fields are off limits including off the coast of southern California, in Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
US policy is, however, supporting an ethanol industry with the target of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels likely to result in the construction of about 300 new ethanol plants, about 75 new corn ethanol facilities and more than 210 for conversion of cellulosic materials.
While this might all sound impressive and perhaps like the demise of fossil fuels, it is not really because renewables represent such a tiny part of energy production in the US. Indeed according to the latest forecast from the Energy Information Administration, traditional fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) will still meet 83 percent of total US primary energy supply requirements in 2030, down only slightly from 85 percent in 2006. Furthermore, US demand for petroleum, the main source for transportation fuels, is forecast to rise 0.8 percent a year, from 21 million barrels per day in 2008 to 25 million in 2030.
So the US will remain dependent on the Middle East including Iraq for its energy? And the US and Iraqi governments are trying to dramatically boost oil production with the World Socialist Website reporting that there are plans to increase oil production from 2.5 million barrels per day to at least three million by the end of 2008, and to six million within a decade.
Dear All,
In today’s Age newspaper, “Fears of ‘worst shark season’ ever as seas heat up”, see
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/fears-of-worst-shark-season-as-sea-heats-up/2007/12/29/1198778767755.html
Back in the 1960s I can recall shark attacks being rather common in Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay. Temperatures were lower then …
Cheers,
John McLean
The surf is up at the Gold Coast with an intense low pressure system hovering off shore. The large swells and high tides mean that the car park has been closed at the Currumbin Surf Club – but you can still get a drink at the bar.
The locals say the wild weather is reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s.
Currumbin Surf Life Saving Club, Sunday morning, December 30, 2007
With the rising sea levels it has made a casual walk along the beach treacherous in places.
There are serious surfers braving the high seas. This morning we watched four being pulled out each with a jet ski.
Yesterday I had to climb Cabarita point – or risk being washed away – not.
Jen in sarong with pink hat at Cabarita, Gold Coast, Australia, December 29, 2007
Anyway, best wishes to everyone for a happy New Year.
The Cooper Valley has been dumped on with exceptional rainfall over the past few days. Since Boxing Day, over 700 mm has been recorded in our portion of the catchment.
Last night I was unable to collect three travellers that had booked onto the nocturnal tour because of flooding. Another two, one from Hamburg and the other from Switzerland were awe-struck by the deluge, but eventually I had to abandon the tour. Flooding, landslides and tree falls were commonplace throughout the area.
This is by far the most exciting time of the year for wildlife. A Giant Petilurid, Australia’s largest dragonfly, took refuge from the downfall, in our bathroom. The infrequently seen onychophorans or peripatus are at their most conspicuous. Tree frogs descend from their upper-story concealment in their thousands and produce such a cacophony that it is virtually impossible to be heard.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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