Whales and Wiener Dogs

Sea Shepherd is accusing Japanese whalers of intentionally ramming and sinking their high-tech carbon fiber catamaran Ady Gill (video below). However, it remains unclear if the boat is actually sinking. One of the Sea Shepherd crew appears to have suffered some broken ribs.

Sea Shepherd Ship "Bob Barker"

A. It’s no longer a Secret, and
B. Yes, it’s named after Bob Barker (a million dollar donor to Sea Shepherd…The Price Was Right! (sorry)).

And from the looks of this sneak preview, it’s every bit as f’d up as you’d hope it would be.

Whale Watcher on the lookout in Anchorage Port

The Cook Inlet Beluga Whale population is the lowest it 15 years, down from 653 in 1994 to 321 this year.

One of the theories attempting to explain the decline is noise pollution from Anchorage Port, a busy shipping hub undergoing a lot of new construction. It’s believed that the beluga whales are sensitive to the commercial and construction noise. At four points along the port, hired whale watchers keep their eyes open for belugas, and if any are spotted, construction comes to a halt.

The port construction project won’t be completed until 2014.

It's not a whale, it's whale!

There was some hope, especially in Australia, that the new Japanese government would oppose or il-legalize whaling in Japan. But no such luck.

Japan’s new government has urged the Aussies to do what they can to prevent violent attacks on Japanese whalers by activists, especially Sea Shepherd.

Taiji Dolphin Hunt

Hayden Panettiere, who hates whaling, has posted a blog entry on Social Vibe trying to set the record straight about exactly what’s going on in Taiji in the wake of international attention created by “The Cove.”

It seems that the dolphin hunt in Taiji has resumed in a sort of limited capacity. On September 9, fisherman drove 50 pilot whales and 100 bottlenose dolphins into the cove. All the pilot whales were slaughtered. 30 of the dolphins were sold to marine parks, while the rest were released.

Hayden wonders if the release was a one-time gesture aimed at deflecting attention, but then again, all the pilot whales were killed.

She goes on to add that dolphins living in captivity will have their lifespan reduced by 30-40 years, surviving on average only about six years.

Robert Eldridge, the Cape Cod fisherman who faced charges for freeing a whale that became entangled in his fishing gear, cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid a costly trial and potential jail time. According to his lawyer, Eldridge will on have to pay a “relatively small fine.”

Eldridge could have gone to jail for up to a year. The Feds say you should call an officially licensed disentanglement team if a whale gets all tangled up in your gear.

A while back, when I saw “The Cove,” I wondered whether or not the filmmakers would be able to attain their stated goal - to end the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. Well, there have been a couple reasons over the last few days to think that maybe there is such thing as “The Cove” Effect - and keep in mind that the film hasn’t even been released in Japan yet.

First, Broome, Australia is suspending its sister city program with Taiji, Japan. Knowing how Australians feel about Japan and sea mammal conservation, I find it sort of hilarious that Taiji even had a sister city in Australia. I can just imagine the person who runs Broome’s sister city program - “They do fucking WHAT?!?”

Secondly, and more importantly, Ric O’Barry got to Taiji on September 1 - the first day of dolphin killing season - and found the killing cove empty of both dolphin killers and dolphins, but FULL or reporters.

In a post on his blog called “September 1, 2009: A Good Day for Dolphins,” O’Barry says:

Today is September 1st, the first day of the dolphin slaughter season in Japan. But when I arrived today by bus from Kansai Airport with media representatives from all over the world, the notorious Cove from the movie was empty. There were no dolphin killers in sight.

Good for him. We’ll have to see if “The Cove” Effect has real staying power, or if the Japanese will be up to their old tricks next year, or next month, or even next week when the big media retreats. Although, O’Barry does point out that these are Japanese media who have NEVER bothered to cover Taiji at all in the past.

A small bit of irony from Australia where the last few days have seen Premier Colin Barnett defend a natural gas installation in what appears to be whale country, while Environment Minister Peter Garrett had to manage his tempered excitement at getting to lobby the new Japanese government to stop whaling.

Over 150 humpback whales were recently spotted off Western Australia near the site of a planned natural gas installation. Environmentalists argue that the site is as significant as others that were ruled out due to whale activity, but the government is countering that the installation will not be disruptive and has no plans to 86 the gas project.

Meanwhile, Aussies and their Environment Minister are hoping the new center-left government of Japan - which just dislodged over a half century of conservative rule - will be more open to engaging in substantive talks on the prickly issue of Antarctic whale hunting.

This picture sums up about how much Australians are fed up with Japanese whaling:

Anti-whaling protester Jamie Yew in 2008.

If you’re not thinking about it already, google Jamie Yew.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration

Only the most powerful government officials are granted these sweaters.

Anton Lubchenko, punter for Springfield University.