Japan threat may sink whale body
25/6/08
Japan has gone on the attack at the opening of the International Whaling Commission annual meeting in Chile, accusing Australia of bringing nothing to the negotiating table. The Japanese Government, a financial backer of the nation’s whaling fleet, also complained of a lack of rational decision-making at the IWC and described it as “dysfunctional”. A possible resumption in commercial whaling is expected to split the meeting of the 80-member IWC in Santiago. Australia wants to reform the IWC into a conservation body. But Japan has threatened to resume commercial whaling after a suspension of more than 20 years, in a gesture of defiance towards conservationists and anti-whaling governments.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23918464-25837,00.html
Faint hope on horizon for lonely blue whale
Andrew Darby; 25/6/08
The lonely search for a mate by the largest animal that ever lived is becoming just a little easier. New research says that 45 years after the hunt for Antarctic blue whales officially ended, they are still less than 1% of their original number. But the mammal the size of a small ship seems to be inching back from the brink of extinction. Hunted ruthlessly by 20th-century industrial whalers, blues in the Antarctic were prized above all others for their enormous yield of whale oil.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/faint-hope-on-horizon-for-lonely-blue-whale-20080624-2w6b.html
Tags: Australia, Blue WhaleAdd new tag, Global, Japan, Whaling