Island to become focus of anti-whaling demonstrations
Wednesday 26th January 2011, 2:57PM GMT.
Campaigners have said the protests will be peaceful
INTERNATIONAL pressure groups and Jersey animal rights campaigners are to hold demonstrations when the Island hosts a controversial whaling conference this summer.
Thousands of delegates, campaigners and journalists from across the world are due to arrive in Jersey in July when the International Whaling Commission meets at the Hotel de France.
And representatives from Norway, Japan and Iceland – countries which continue to defy a worldwide ban on whale hunting – will almost certainly be among those attending the two week-long event.
Today, Andy Ottaway, founder and campaign director of the Campaign Whale pressure group, said that some protests were likely – but stressed that any demonstrations would be peaceful.
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Why Jersey? And why do the locals have to put up with this?
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I urge everyone to watch “The Cove” and then consider their views and beliefs on whaling.
I have no problem with peaceful demonstrations.
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No matter what your feeling on the subject, the reality is just like all conference’s of this nature, bad egg’s will arrive to start trouble.
A: Do the people want this on their front door step.
B: Who is footing the bill for the policing and the inevitable clean up!
C: On top of all the recent great publicity Jersey has had, does it really need this!
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Hey Trinity Bob thsi might help…:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-UdpKqAyXA
1 of 10 parts so just sit end enjoy and make your own stand on the matter…..
Afetr the first part finishes just clik on part 2 and watch the whole movie….
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Oh no, people who care enough about something to actually do something about it..
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It’s all very well for the Hotel de France to host a conference on whaling, but are they paying for potential extra policing or is it down to the taxpayer?
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Typical bury the head in the sand NIMBYs
Of course Jersey should host conferences like this, just because the Island is small doesn’t mean it should any less involved or at the forefront of a debate like this one.
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I am one of the protesters that will be coming to your island I can say there will be no trouble we will just be standing around with are banners yes 10 greenpeace protesters were arrested a couple of years a go but that was for in inflating a blow up whale in the lobby of the hotel I hope you are put to rest and I cant wait to come to your island
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@8 Whale.
You are very welcome to my island. I am delighted, as are the majority of people that I have spoken to about this, that this event is happening here.
There is of course a minority that think because we don’t have whales beaching themselves upon our beautiful beaches that it is irrelevant to us; thank goodness we don’t all have that attitude otherwise no-one would support such causes as Haiti, the Tsunami or the Famine in Africa. These things may not be on our doorstep, but they are important.
I have had the privilege of diving with whales on numerous occasions, in New Zealand and off the coast of East Africa, and 2 years ago my young son and I dived and kayaked with hump back whales in South Africa. What an experience. It makes me sad that in a few years time, it might not be possible to do such things.
You can count on this Jerseyman fully supporting this cause and joining the peaceful protests too.
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There is a Facebook group to keep people informed about what is going on.
If you have an interest join;
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_159476360771515
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More importantly Japan is slaughtering endangered whales, this is akin to poaching:
The Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic (JARPAII) includes 50 Fin whales (Endangered ESA & IUCN) and 50 Humpback whales (Endangered ESA & vulnerable IUCN) and of course hundreds upon hundreds of Minke whales (“The cockroaches of the sea” said a Japanese official).
Even though they have a special permit for 50 Humpbacks, they seem to be leaving these alone (in JARPAII at least – this may be hard to prove, as who knows what they are slaughtering really) for the purposes of political bargaining.
The Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the North Pacific (JARPNII) deserves a special mention here because it is the hunt that is not as well known as JARPAII. The North Pacific hunt consists of a much larger variety of endangered whales. They include:
- Sei
- Bryde’s
- Sperm
Along with a large haul of “common minke” whales.
So it really does look like important science is being undertaken (NOT) when they are plucking endangered whales out of the oceans – the same whales struggling to get back to pre-whaling industry numbers which face even more challenges these days due to pollution, shipping ( & ship strikes), sonar tests (noise pollution, some of which can be lethal), loss of breeding grounds, climate change and loss of food sources (humans taking krill now too). And lastly, these science expeditions seemingly keep increasing their quotas of “samples needed” as Japan is longing for the day when they can begin full commerical whaling and until that day, they will continue to commercially whale under JARPAII and JARPNII.
The ICR happily post data from these expeditions and show terrible images of slain endangered whales being carved up in the name of science. What an international disgrace. They are driving whales (and blue fin tuna etc) to extinction.
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Oh great – a bunch of uneducated swines, coming to share principles whilst they all eat meat and fish dredged from oceans.
At least when a whale is caught it is a targetted catch.
Hope we don’t see anything of the Sea Shepherd off our seas, the anti-social behaviour of that lot really shoudl face the full weight of the law.
I liek whales, have scuba dived with them, surfed close to them. I also like cows, but that doesn’t mean my values on whether they should shouldn’t be eaten shoudl be pushed on others.
Instead of protesting against whaling, we should instead look at how managed and sustainable consumption of whales and all sea/land creatures can take place, rather than just ban outright.
Then we will have a sensible discussions, rather than wailing about whaling.
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I would like to thank Sea Shepherd supporters on Jersey for their commitment to ocean conservation. I encourage all decent-minded citizens of the Island to welcome the opportunity to expose the corruption by some nations within and outside the IWC.
Protesters will be spending money on the Island too!
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12. Real Truthseeker – uneducated swines?!?! – How ignorant are you trying to be, or are you just trying to be offensive? (Also, you may want to check the spelling on your posts….the irony!) Whaling is a highly emotive subject that a lot of people feel very strongly about, maybe you should have some respect for others, even if you don’t care about the subject.
I find it hard to understand why so many people on this Island have zero tolerance for those who actually care about something and pass them off as ‘uneducated swines’ or as being anti social and nothing but trouble. It’s an absolute joke.
The whaling commission’s purpose IS in respect of the conservation and sustainable consumption of whales, however the Icelandic, Norwegian and Japanese governments continue to defy the commercial ban and the Japanese have been vote-buying in an attempt for the ban to be lifted entirely. Something has to be done.
I personally think it’s great if the Sea Shepard group and Greenpeace come over to the Island, we would be very lucky to have them here. I, for one will be offering my full support.
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Yes, yes, yes. This gives Jersey people the opportunity to make their views known without getting on a plane to protest. Whaling is an abomination, and ecologically disastrous to all of marine life. Commercial large trawl fishing is also terrible and devastating the oceans. This is not a question of being a greenie or a sentimental nit it is a question of the life and death of the world’s seas. I will be there, with a banner saying something like ‘SAVE OUR SEA’and demonstrating without violence. Remember that violence is often started by agents provocateurs.
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Currently about 70% of commercially fished species are at risk, some like the Grand Banks cod are effectively extinct.
The fishery will never recover no matter how long it is closed.
We have moved on to lesser known species like the orange roughy who live in very deep or cold water, are very slow growing and even more vulnerable than the shallow water species that we have traditionally fished and in less than a couple of decades we have driven them to Red Book listing.
I reckon the most common species of fish off the island and probably the major part of the piscine biomass in island waters is the lesser spotted dogfish, it has little economic value and it can survive being trawled.
Go fishing anywhere off the island at night and you will catch dozens, some nights you will catch nothing else.
Other seas like the Baltic and the Mediterranean are being taken over by jellyfish.
Despite treaties and quotas, completely ignored by the worst offenders, we are continuing in our quest to fish the oceans clean.
Sadly the Japanese might as well eat the whales before the whales starve to death.
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Monty unless there is a big profit to be made, then sadly many of the people on this island are less likely to be interested in issues such as this.
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monty RT is a right wing establishment supporting troll. The seas are being vacuumed out. Soon most species will be gone then what?
Greed is worshipped as a god by many around the world and Jersey seems to attract more than its fair share.
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Why save the Whales???
What good do they do except for maybe the priveledged few to go diving with WOW,
cant wait to tell my pals about this!
Also the same with animals like Orangutans , elephants, tigers etc Why save them what do they contribute to humans existance we dont eat them do we ?
Most people will never swim with dolphins and whales most people will only ever see captive animals . we can see these on tv and video so save the videos.
This is a serious question can anyone tell me why we should save these creatures.
Is it just the feel good factor like recycling i wonder.
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“This is a serious question can anyone tell me why we should save these creatures.”
Most people do not realise this but life on earth of which we are a part makes up a vast and complex ecosystem.
As we are beginning to discover in the oceans, knocking out species or worse whole groups of species has huge and unpredictable results.
The price of wholesale ecological destruction may be our own extinction as a species.
Life on earth will probably survive in some form but it will very likely not be much more than grass and jellyfish.
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17.Jon – I agree, it’s unfortunate that so many people are wired to feel this way but with over 2000 delegates are going to be travelling to the island and spending cash over a couple of weeks which can’t really be anything but good for the economy…. especially with how dire tourism is over here these days.
18. Well said Adrian
19.Noah – It’s pretty sad that you seem to think that humans are the only species worthy of existing and that we should just eat everything else that moves! It’s true that a lot of people will never experience seeing whales and dolphins (or any other creatures) in the wild but that’s their choice, anyone can save up a bit of cash and travel to these places if they wanted to… that’s hardly an argument for killing them all is it, just because we can’t see them??? There are plenty of other comments on this page detailing why whaling is wrong so i’m not going to repeat them.
People don’t spend their lives campaigning against something like the slaughter of whales for the ‘feel good’ factor, there’s nothing good about seeing the disgusting ways these animals are killed and disregarded for nothing other than people’s selfishness. I have nothing but respect for those who spend their lives fighting for causes such as this, who may never see results in their lifetime but still make sacrifices for what they believe in.
It’s a strange question to ask, what good do whales do, at the end of the day they are innocent creatures that are just trying to survive, feed and raise their young. The question with a more interesting answer would be…..what good do people do????
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Whales are huge, intelliget mammals and the reason they should not be hunted is because they cannot be killed humanely, largely because of their size and the environment they are in.
Having said that, there is some truth in what RT says: what we need is a global policy on fishing that is not driven by petty, factional interests. And what is surprising about the whaling debate is that the “baddies” – places like iceland and norway – have a much better record in this area than many o the goodies.
Noah, whales should be kept because they have a grace and beauty that is aw inspiring and because we know next to nothing about them. There is, for example, a species of large whale that has yet to be discovered: we know it exists because a single bone has been found that fits no other species and because it sins on a frequency different to all other whales. They are totally fascinating, Moby Dick is the great american novel, as long as tere is poetry in man’s soul we need whales. Pandas by comparison are pointless and over-evolved and nobody should care about them.
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monty – you clearly rabbit on about things you know nothing about.
Whaling is a targetted catch, not trawler fishing. It is and has been for centuries a staple of many cultures.
Why should your culture dictate to another what they can and cant eat. If you want to protest, protest against local fisherman, or the disgusting anti-social behaviour of Sea Shepherd.
Noah is right – it is a feel good factor. Whales hunted are not endangered, only a rare few are.
But hey, since when has the rabid left-wing ratbags ever let truth get in the way of a view.
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Im disgusted people are still hunting whales! Its always the same countries as well, thats what i dont understand, if we can live without killing wales, why can’t they! personally i think its down to greed and not need! I mean Japan still hunt wales! well they say its for scientific reasons! hmm what scientific reasons, ive never seen a paper published from japan to explain why.
selfish people do selfish things and forget we all have to live on this place called Earth, together.
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monty where do you think whales keep their investments?
Answer:- Offshore
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When land, sea and air are so degraded then man will realise there is more to life than greed and exploitation. Eating recycled humans could be the way of the future at this rate.
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@23 ‘Whales hunted are not endangered, only a rare few are.’
Very insightful or is that a reverse oxymoron? Made me laugh anyway!
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helen 24
do you eat meat ,
if vegetarians can live without it why cant you?
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Noah yes i do eat meat! thats what farm based animals are bread for!
Ive never heard of people breeding whales for food!
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Helen Black post 29 They do breed dolpins in pens for food in Japan please google it and it will show you, not a pretty sight
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23 Real Truth Seeker Being a a intelligent fellow maybe, you do know that all the Whale and Dolphins are very intelligent and they have as I know at least 9 different conversations at one time talking to each other we are not the only life form on this planet to have social groups family etc please read more on this before you write and no I am no a Green Peace supportor I served 18 years in the Army and have seen many disgusting things that man does against man I never have seen this in the animal kingdom
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29 Helen Back
‘Noah yes i do eat meat! thats what farm based animals are bread for!
Ive never heard of people breeding whales for food!’
You’ve not read ‘The Deep Range’(Arthur C Clarke, 1957) then, Helen?
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