Mr. Minoru Morimoto, Director General of The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) in Tokyo, said today that journalists and editors are misinforming the public and abusing the credibility of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Many of the news articles and stories about Japan's whale research have incorrectly cited the World Conservation Union (IUCN) listing of humpback whales as "vulnerable" and fin whales as "endangered".
The fact is that the IUCN's website for its "Red List" clearly says that these listings are "out of date". Both the assessment of these species and the criteria used to classify them are "out of date." This is because the assessments were done in 1996 and used 1994 criteria which have since been revised. The IUCN has received updated assessments from its expert group but these have not yet been made public or adopted. Mr. Morimoto said that journalists and editors should at a minimum acknowledge this when they cite the IUCN listing of humpback and fin whale or not use them inappropriately.
In a similar way, articles have used the IWC Scientific Committee estimate of 42,000 to say that the current population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere is "around 40,000" but that estimate applies to 1997/1998. With the population growing at 10% per year, (IWC SC estimate for East Australia 1981-96, 12.4% and West Australia 1977-91,10.9%) it would now be more than 2.5 times what it was at that time and more than 3 times what it was when IUCN did their assessment.
Mr. Morimoto said that it is misleading and confusing to readers to simply quote the IUCN's listing which the IUCN itself says is out of date. He urged journalists and editors not to simply copy the rhetoric of the anti-whaling NGOs but to do their homework and present more precise reporting. Mr. Morimoto reiterated his earlier statement that Japan's research makes a valuable contribution to the management of Antarctic whale species to ensure that any future commercial whaling regime is robust and sustainable and that a take of 50 humpback whales would have no impact on the population or the whale-watching industry.
Web links to IUCN World Conservation Union Red Listing of Humpback and Fin whales (see "annotations" in "Assessment Information") and the International Whaling Commission website.
Humpback whale: http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/13006/all
Fin whale: http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/2478/summ
IWC population estimates: http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/estimate.htm
Grott's probably back from punching a few govt staffers and blowing up a bilby nest - his blood is up.
I'll tell you what Ian, you and your mates go and drink that slab of beer, you can even discuss me a bit more (Oh that's right, you're too busy for that). That way you can have an adult telling you what to do and have no responsibility yourself. Just mind that the alcohol can effect your medication.
>What we do know
'We'? Who are 'we' Ian? You and your beer-drinking mates? I am so touched I play such a large role in your life.
>I just like to jam common sense down the throats of fools, Travis.
You may 'like' Ian, but you wouldn't know common sense if it bit you on the arse and gave you a free slab of beer. As for fools, I keep telling you- PUT DOWN THAT MIRROR!!! Oh, and get the pebbles out of your pockets too.
I just like to jam common sense down the throats of fools, Travis. And while you and Libby might like to try on the kind of amateur psych analysis that might appeal to a Big Brother audience at 11.30pm on a slow Tuesday, I just see it as a force of nature. For nature abhors a vacuum, especially an intellectual one like yours.
What we do know is that if you were even aged 18 you would have no trouble proclaiming how wrong I was. But you didn't, so we can conclude, until advised otherwise, that you are not even old enough to vote. So run along now, laddie, thats a good boy.
Luke,
We buy as well uranium from Australia.
There was a little row between Sweden and Norway re nuclear waste a while ago. The Norwegians are of the opinion that the nuclear plant in the UK, Sellafield " is nuking the marine life and whales etc".
>Gosh, the last time anyone adopted the ploy of using a rhyming substitute for my name, in the way Luke and Travis have recently done, was back in year 9, 1970. So do tell us, Travis, that slab of beer is still in play, which side of age 14 are you?
Didn't Libby recently write something similar about you Ian? Perhaps the ability to assign your own faults to others is part of your pathological condition? Your obsession with my age is certainly a worry, and your betting of a slab of beer on it would suggest you are caught in some sort of old-age identity crisis.
>Would the "Sea Scumbag" and its ecoterrorists be quite so keen on ramming a Norwegian vessel that is fishing in the southern ocean? I suspect not.
I guess Sea Shepherd would rather ram the Norwegians in their own waters - much cheaper! The Robert Hunter apparently leaves Melbourne tomorrow.
>Now there's an olive branch worth extending, don't you think?
Now there's some of your own advice you can take Ian - peace and thinking.
Ann,
Have you not heard of 'tall poppy syndrome' down here in Australia? Someone gets successful, they are loved and hyped, then after a while we snip them off at the knees coz we are tired of their success. Lovely people aren't we? I can see the attraction in Done's work - it's bright and cheerful, and I think you can sleep under your duvet appreciating a healthy, populated sea floor and some happy colour from Australia.
Rune,
Thanks for posting the translation.
Travis,
"but Aussies tend to turn their noses up at it. "
Oops , might have made the wrong choice then , actually I can buy 10 IKEA duvet covers for the price of one Ken Done. But I liked the motif, fish, sponges , corals and mussels , 1oo% suitable for a " save the sea floor " campaign!
Gosh, the last time anyone adopted the ploy of using a rhyming substitute for my name, in the way Luke and Travis have recently done, was back in year 9, 1970. So do tell us, Travis, that slab of beer is still in play, which side of age 14 are you?
Back to the topic. This motion by the Norwegians is a fairly standard negotiating ploy that the Japanese will recognise. No-one opens their domestic markets if they don't need to, especially Europeans, but the Japanese are more than likely to appreciate the benefits of internationalising the whale industry.
Would the "Sea Scumbag" and its ecoterrorists be quite so keen on ramming a Norwegian vessel that is fishing in the southern ocean? I suspect not.
I also seem to recall that Norway actually has a claim to a large part of the Antarctic mainland, from Longitude 20W to 45E. And with this would come a claim for an Exclusive Economic Zone that would have exactly the same legitimacy as the Australian one.
Who knows, they may be able to leverage access to this zone in exchange for Japanese market access. and I hear the North Koreans have a heightened appreciation for sea food, any food for that matter. Now there's an olive branch worth extending, don't you think?
>When a fully paid up departmental goon like Luke starts bunging on about Nazis it must be time for the delete button.
Grott is owning the blog still I see? Questioning what rights casual posters have here, hogging every thread, abusing and insulting and now (snigger!) determining that because someone from the other side used the word Nazi they must be deleted! Classic Grott.
Ann,
There is a little bit of cultural cringe about Ken Done's work in Australia. It's aimed at the tourism market, and is very popular, but Aussies tend to turn their noses up at it.
The Norwegian Whaler's Union Resolution is very interesting. The Japanese are great at making enemies, but even better at losing friends!
Says the member for the New Republic of Byron Bay - but what's this - I can't believe it - he appears to be unelected unrepresentative swill. Australia's sole unpatriotic pro-whaling advocate. Ann the rationale is, if it moves shoot it - if it doesn't chop it down.
Here's the resolution in English:
Resolution adopted by the Annual General Meeting of the Norwegian Whalers’ Union, 30. November 2007
1. Norway and Japan have a long history of close and mutually beneficial cooperation on the whaling issue.
2. Such a cooperation should encompass all relevant aspects to an issue.
3. International trade in whale products is for Norway a very important aspect within such a cooperative framework.
4. Japan has for several years delayed trade with whale products between our two countries, despite promises of the opposite.
Thus Norway must now cease all cooperation with Japan on the whaling issue until the question of market access for Norwegian whale products to Japan has been solved.
(Translation from original text in Norwegian.)