Each year some humpback whales migrate from the Antarctic to north eastern Australian waters travelling a distance of some 10,000 Kilometres. Some pass Sydney and even enter the harbour.
I understand there is lots of food in the Antarctic, but it’s a bit cold for birthing with baby whales likely to freeze in Antarctic water.
Humpback off Sydney, June 1, 2008, Photograph by Libby Eyre
Humpback off Sydney, June 1, 2008, Photograph by Libby Eyre
On Thursday the ABC ran a story from Greenpeace entitled Greenpeace says whalers stealing meat
by North Asia correspondent Shane McLeod:
In Japan, environmental group Greenpeace says it has uncovered evidence of widespread theft of whale meat from the country’s scientific whaling program.
Greenpeace has intercepted a box of whale meat it says was illegally taken off the the whaling ship the Nisshin Maru by a member of its crew.
Spokesman Junichi Sato says the meat could be worth thousands of dollars on the black market.
“This is the valuable part of the whale,” he said.
“It’s made into whale meat bacon, which has a high value.”
The whalers responded with a media release ‘NISSHIN MARU CREW GIVEN WHALEMEAT FOR FAMILIES’:
Nisshin Maru crew members are given a certain amount of whalemeat to take home to their families, Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha in Tokyo, Japan, said today in response to Greenpeace Japan claims.
“The gifting of whalemeat to Nisshin Maru crew members is a time-honoured tradition in recognition of the hard work these men do spending many months a year away from their children and wives,” the President of Kyodo Senpaku, Mr Kazuo Yamamura, said today.
“Our sailors spend four months of the year away from their families and are attacked by environmental terrorists while working, so providing a gift of whalemeat for them on their return home is just a little extra we can do for these men.
“It is a sad day when Greenpeace denigrates our crew for being given a few kilos of whalemeat,” Mr Yamamura said.
Then the ABC reported in an article entitled Company accuses Greenpeace of whale meat theft on May 17, 2008, that it might have been Greenpeace who actually did the stealing:
A Japanese trucking company has told police that Greenpeace Japan has stolen whale meat, a day after the conservation group accused whalers of embezzlement.
Seino says a box of cargo was taken by Greenpeace from its branch office in the city of Aomori in north-east Japan.
1) News from the Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association, 15.4.2008.
Minke whaling boat Njordur KO, will leave port in the middle of May, to start minke whale hunting that will continue to the summer.
The vessels Dröfn RE and Halldor Sigurdsson IS, will join the hunt during the summer. According to the plan, whale meat be available in the stores in the shift of May/ June, and the meat will be prepared as the previous years.
Whale meat processor Esja, will take care of the marketing and preparation of the whale meat. The minke whale hunters hope this change will increase the sales of whale meat, which they since the year 2004 , have taken care of by themselves.
2) In the Norwegian hunt, so far 5 minke whales have been killed ( Friday).
3) I haven’t mentioned this previously, but Libby Eyre was on Swedish TV, swimming with her humpbacks in Tonga. Another contributor to the blog, George McCallum, had his whale pictures featured in a Swedish traveller’s magazine on Norway “ Nordland Naturligtvis” ( Northland Naturally). A story on whale’s safaris in Norway.
4) Our old friend Rune, is now a Director for the whale meat processing plant, Lofothval, that gets Govt’s support financially.
5)Another traveller’s magazine on the Faroe Islands states: “Funky Faroes — Whale and Gay bashing is out.”
Ann Novek
Sweden
Whale birds are a group of birds called this because,
1) They used to follow whaling ships and feed on the blubber and floating oil. (Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels).
2) Prions are a small group of Petrels which once were known as whale birds, because they feed on the same plankton baleen whale feed and were thus likely to be good indicators where the whales may be.
3) The Sooty tern (see photo) is as well called a whale bird.
Photo courtesy BirdLife International/Simon Stirrup
“ We frequently observe humpback whales and birds feeding on the same patches , so it’s not surprising that occasionally birds might be engulfed by feeding humpback whales “.
“We observed three partially digested birds coated with whale feces floating in the water near adult whales”.
RESULTS OF HUMPBACK WHALE POPULATION MONITORING IN GLACIER BAY AND ADJACENT WATERS: 2005
Cheers,
Ann
Sweden
The Norwegian whalers in South Georgia called the black petrel “the shoemaker”, because it reminds them of their home shoemakers in Norway, sitting in their huts and singing.
A Black Petrel, Photo courtesy of BirdLife International / Phil Hansbro
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
Our friend Rune Frövik, Secretary of the High North Alliance, has resigned according to a Norwegian newspaper, Fiskeribladet.
The charismatic Rune has had many fights with Greenpeace and participated in CITES and IWC meetings. Rune has as well been kind enough to participated here on Jen’s blog. We remember him in the hot and interesting discussion on sustainable Norwegian whaling with Dr. Peter Corkeron:
https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/001142.html#comments
The High North Alliance (HNA) was established in 1991 as an organisation for whalers and sealers in the North Atlantic. HNA had its “golden period” during the years when Norway wanted full scale whaling activity and possibilities to export whale meat. It’s calmer now in the office that is situated in the Lofoten Islands.
“There are still many challenges”, states the new to be Secretary, Laila Jusnes.
The paper doesn’t state the reason for Rune’s resignment , but I heard he owns a little whale meat processing factory in northern Norway.
I wish Rune good luck for the future (but not killing whales!).
Ann Novek,
Sweden
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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