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all bull .....
from the ABC …..
Turnbull blasts 'irresponsible' whaling protesters
The Federal Government has condemned the actions of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is trying to disrupt Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.
A Sea Shepherd boat and a Japanese whaling ship collided near the Ross Sea yesterday.
Each side is blaming the other for the incident but Sea Shepherd says it is considering ramming another boat into a whaler.
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the confrontations have placed lives at risk, including two Sea Shepherd crew members, one of whom is an Australian citizen.
"The type of action they are now proposing, such as ramming vessels, could result in a tragedy," he said in a statement.
"This is not about whaling. It is simply unacceptable for any vessel to threaten or to use violence against other ships at sea.
"These are dangerous and irresponsible actions."
Mr Turnbull is urging the group to act in a safe and peaceful manner.
- By Gus Leonisky at 13 Feb 2007 - 9:42pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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Whales with matches
from the ABC
Whaling ship on fire in AntarcticaA Japanese whaling ship in Antarctica has reported a fire below decks and one crew member is missing.
Maritime New Zealand spokesman Lindsay Sturt says it does not appear the 8,000-tonne processing ship Nisshin Maru is in danger of sinking.
"At the moment there is one crewman unaccounted for, everybody else has been transferred to three of the other whaling ships," he said.
"The fact they have 20 people still on board means they still have some hope of containing it."
The fire is believed to have started in the engine room.
Steve Corbett from Maritime New Zealand told Newsradio a call was received about 4am.
"They haven't relayed any distress signal, they've just simply let us know that they have a problem and they're dealing with it," he said.
"We're just standing by to see if they need an further assistance."
Mr Corbett says the fire has nothing to do with anti-whaling protests by the Sea Shepherd Society, which has recently clashed with the whaling fleet.
"We can confirm they have nothing to do with it - both the Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd ships are at least two or three days away," he said.
"This appears to be some kind of mechanical fault, absolutely nothing to do with environment groups."
New Zealand's Search and Rescue Co-Ordination Centre says of the 160 people on board the Nisshin Maru, 120 were evacuated onto three other ships in the Japanese fleet.
The fleet is undertaking whaling in the Ross Sea as part of what they describe as "a scientific program".
Malcomus duplicitousii
Australia has backed a plan by St Vincent and the Grenadines to hunt humpbacks as part of its subsistence whaling quota.
A consensus vote at the International Whaling Commission meeting has cleared the Caribbean nation to kill four whales a year over a five-year period.
Mick McIntyre from the International Fund for Animal Welfare says he is disappointed Australia did not oppose the plan, given its opposition to Japan's plans to add humpbacks to its scientific cull program.
"It's disappointing there wasn't more opposition to this proposal because four humpbacks are going to meet the harpoon," he said.
"This is a hunt that's never really been established as being truly aboriginal, so to allow them to get a quota over the next five years of a total of 20 humpbacks is very disappointing."
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Gus: Malcolm, Malcolm, where art thou? Navel gazing not whale watching...,for sure?.