South Korea said Wednesday it may scrap its fiercely criticised plan to resume "scientific" whaling if experts come up with non-lethal means to study the mammals in its waters. "We may not conduct whaling for scientific research if there is another way to achieve the goal," Kang Joon-Suk, a senior official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, told reporters.
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea is considering hunting whales in the waters off its shores for what it says are scientific purposes, drawing criticism from environmental groups and countries around the Pacific Rim. Citing calls from fishermen for a resumption of limited whaling, the head of the South Korean delegation to the International Whaling Commission, Kang Joon-suk, said Wednesday that Seoul was working on a proposal to hunt minke whales migrating off the Korean Peninsula.
"We believe this move is a thinly veiled attempt by Korea to conduct commercial whaling under the guise of scientific research, similar to hunts conducted by Japan in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary," said Wendy Elliott, head of World Wildlife Fund's delegation to the whaling commission.
South Korea intends to pursue a similar approach to Japan by submitting a proposal to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. Other countries in the region reacted to Seoul's plans with dismay. "I am very disappointed by this announcement by South Korea," Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia said Thursday. "We are completely opposed to whaling; there's no excuse for scientific whaling." Gillard said she had instructed the Australian ambassador to South Korea to take the matter up "at the highest levels of the Korean government." New Zealand intends to take similar action over the situation, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said, suggesting that South Korea's plans could undermine the standing of the International Whaling Commission. The announcement "will put further pressure on an organization that already has significant difficulty sustaining itself as a credible international institution," he said. The minke whales that would be the target of South Korea's proposed hunt are considered endangered by the whaling commission's Scientific Committee, WWF said in a statement.
I'm not sure why SK thinks this is a good idea, considering the worldwide outrage against Japan's whaling program. Since these whales are already (arguably) endangered I would hope this is shutdown before it can begin but Japan has managed to exploit loopholes for over 30 years so I'm not optimistic on this outcome.
Here's a video from a news report earlier today with some comments from the PM of Australia and wildlife groups.
Some info on the whales they plan to hunt
The IUCN Red List labels the northern species as Least Concern and the southern as Data Deficient. CITES, on the other hand, lists both species in Appendix I (threatened), with the exception of the west Greenland stock, which is given in Appendix II (trade controls required). The dwarf minke whale (B. acutorostrata subspecies) has no population estimate, and its conservation status is categorized as Data Deficient.
On July 05 2012 20:42 Bleak wrote: Human is a disgusting species.
Agreed. Makes me a misinthrope for sure, but people like to destroy things such as our planet...
All we can try to do is to stop other people and or educate people about topics such as these in hopes that someone with some type of power or authority can help.
"Dark Templar are the saviors of the Protoss Race." -Artosis
Humans are a sickness for planet earth, such things make me mad as f*ck. (Also a reason i would never play terran, or generally humans in an rts game xD)
SimDawg United States. July 05 2012 21:05. Posts 1301
On July 05 2012 21:00 DonKey_ wrote: Is whale wars going to have new enemies now?
Nope, according to the news SK is going to be doing this in their sovereign waters. What makes the conservationists able to go after the Japanese fleet is that the whaling is taking place in international waters.
SK can just bar any conservationist vessel from entering their waters, escort them out, or fire on them or board and detain them if they don't comply.
To be honest, if south korea gets blocked from whaling in their own waters but japan is allowed to do it in international waters that is a bit of a double standard. It's like slapping one kid for smoking a cigarette while there is a chain smoker blowing smoke in everyones faces right beside him.
I'm against whaling but i do see south koreas point...
Last edit: 2012-07-05 21:13:25
jpak United States. July 05 2012 21:15. Posts 3745
On July 05 2012 21:13 killerdog wrote: To be honest, if south korea gets blocked from whaling in their own waters but japan is allowed to do it in international waters that is a bit of a double standard. It's like slapping one kid for smoking a cigarette while there is a chain smoker blowing smoke in everyones faces right beside him.
I'm against whaling but i do see south koreas point...
Except it's more like slapping one kid for killing endangered whales with harpoons while there is a chain whaler whaling whales in everyone's faces right beside him.
Sorry, but incomplete analogies like such do annoy me. Smoking doesn't kill whales.
I'm embarrased by my past actions and even more ashamed of my present thoughts and future endeavors to clear my name.
BlackJack United States. July 05 2012 21:23. Posts 6691
On July 05 2012 21:13 killerdog wrote: To be honest, if south korea gets blocked from whaling in their own waters but japan is allowed to do it in international waters that is a bit of a double standard. It's like slapping one kid for smoking a cigarette while there is a chain smoker blowing smoke in everyones faces right beside him.
I'm against whaling but i do see south koreas point...
Except it's more like slapping one kid for killing endangered whales with harpoons while there is a chain whaler whaling whales in everyone's faces right beside him.
Sorry, but incomplete analogies like such do annoy me. Smoking doesn't kill whales.
I'm not sure you understand what an analogy is
BlackJack United States. July 05 2012 21:27. Posts 6691
On July 05 2012 20:42 Bleak wrote: Human is a disgusting species.
Could say the same about any carnivore/omnivore. The only difference is that any other predator would gladly hunt whales into extinction while humans have voluntarily ending whaling in most countries for the sake of the whales.
On July 05 2012 21:13 killerdog wrote: To be honest, if south korea gets blocked from whaling in their own waters but japan is allowed to do it in international waters that is a bit of a double standard. It's like slapping one kid for smoking a cigarette while there is a chain smoker blowing smoke in everyones faces right beside him.
I'm against whaling but i do see south koreas point...
Except it's more like slapping one kid for killing endangered whales with harpoons while there is a chain whaler whaling whales in everyone's faces right beside him.
Sorry, but incomplete analogies like such do annoy me. Smoking doesn't kill whales.
I'm not sure you understand what an analogy is
It's still very much an analogy. There's no kids or slapping in the real situation I was just saying, smoking doesn't really hurt anyone or anything (relatively), it's just a dumb longterm move for your own body, so it is a sort of misleading analogy of his.
Last edit: 2012-07-05 21:28:30
I'm embarrased by my past actions and even more ashamed of my present thoughts and future endeavors to clear my name.
Hnnngg United States. July 05 2012 21:28. Posts 1065
Interesting that we are the only ones on our planet that are outraged by this and also at the same time the only ones who will take part in this aside from killer squid.
Only thing i could think of whne i read the title : " Resume finishing her ! "
Really how can killing whales from an endangered specie be seen as a valid scientific experiment ?
Other than that i can totally see why SK could be pissed if japan gets away with whaling in international water but sk can't. I would totally do something like that if my neighbour was allowed to and i wasn't.
#adun giveafuck - - - "Did this guy just randomly finger me?" - Sayle
While I don't think that hunting for animals/fish/whales is in itself bad, what is bad is hunting for an endangered species like this whale. If they would be smart about it they would wait another 10 or 20 years for the whale population to become strong enough again...
Anyway, westerners are always ready to bitch about what is happening in someone elses territory, while in Europe we have pretty much emptied out our own seas and the seas around Africa. But we hear nobody about that, nobody ever talks about the fact that a local african fisherman now has to go I don't know how many miles into the sea before he finds any fish, while 30 years ago he could fish right at the beach. And this is all because of the European fishing boats and of course abuse of the weak political system in Africa.
On July 05 2012 21:13 killerdog wrote: To be honest, if south korea gets blocked from whaling in their own waters but japan is allowed to do it in international waters that is a bit of a double standard. It's like slapping one kid for smoking a cigarette while there is a chain smoker blowing smoke in everyones faces right beside him.
I'm against whaling but i do see south koreas point...
Except it's more like slapping one kid for killing endangered whales with harpoons while there is a chain whaler whaling whales in everyone's faces right beside him.
Sorry, but incomplete analogies like such do annoy me. Smoking doesn't kill whales.
I'm not sure you understand what an analogy is
It's still very much an analogy. There's no kids or slapping in the real situation I was just saying, smoking doesn't really hurt anyone or anything (relatively), it's just a dumb longterm move for your own body, so it is a sort of misleading analogy of his.
What i'm saying is that how can the international community justify trying to forbid one country from doing something when a country right beside them is doing the same thing is a worse way... I fail to see your point.
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EnE July 05 2012 21:21. Posts 417
I was just saying, smoking doesn't really hurt anyone or anything (relatively), it's just a dumb longterm move for your own body, so it is a sort of misleading analogy of his.
