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Australian ship leaves to track Japanese whalers
Sydney (AFP) Jan 9, 2008 An Australian government ship has left on a mission to track Japan's whaling fleet and gather evidence for a potential international court case against Tokyo, an official said Wednesday. The customs vessel Oceanic Viking set sail from Western Australia for Antarctic waters late Tuesday with 50 crew aboard, a spokeswoman for Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said. The ship will spend 20 days gathering video and photographic evidence of Japan's slaughter of whales, fulfilling a pledge made by the governing Labor Party during the campaign for last November's election. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has said the mission would be linked with several days of aerial surveillance. While Australia has long officially opposed Japanese whaling, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has signalled a tougher stance than previous administrations by committing government resources to collecting evidence. Japan's whaling fleet plans to kill around 1,000 whales this year in its annual hunt in the Southern Ocean. Tokyo says the slaughter is for scientific research, exploiting a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the meat ends up on Japanese supermarket shelves. Environmental groups Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd have each separately sent their own ships to track and harass the Japanese fleet, as they do each year, but have so far failed to find the whalers. Greenpeace welcomed the departure of Oceanic Viking but called on the government to assist by giving it the location of the Japanese, so its own ship could also monitor the whalers. "We are pleased that the Oceanic Viking has finally left and look forward to seeing her in the Southern Ocean," said Rob Nicoll, Greenpeace whales campaigner. "Of course, if the Australian government already has the location of the fleet then we would like those coordinates as we are much closer than the Oceanic Viking. "However, we do not expect them to give them to us." A spokesman for Japan's whaling mission said this week it was mid-way through its summer hunt. Related Links Follow the Whaling Debate
Australia hits back over pro-Japan whaling video
Sydney (AFP) Jan 7, 2008Australia's government Monday sharply condemned a popular Internet video claiming its citizens oppose Japanese whaling because of racism, while brutally killing animals such as kangaroos and dingoes. |
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