If Japanese whaling was restricted to Japanese territorial waters, they would have an economic incentive to look after their own whales and manage their own marine environment, writes Crikey naturalist Lionel Elmore.
Whales
Video of the Day: Watch a whale being saved
People might preach about saving the whales, but here’s a video of a whale literally being saved from the fish nets tangled around it by five people on a boat who thought they’d encountered a dead whale. The beast then proceeds to spend an hour offering an incredible show of gratitude to its saviours.
The animals being screwed by the Gulf oil spill
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico couldn’t have come at a worst time for marine life, since its peak spawning season. Bluefin Tuna may be at risk of extinction, a resident pod of sperm walls are under threat and oyster farmers are stressed.
Krill ask the tough questions…
Whales, are they our adorable, bigboned aquafriends or cynical, obese, mass-murderers?
Bartlett: Tipping point for a whale of a war
The news of a Japanese whaling ship ramming and sinking an anti-whaling Sea Shepherds boat highlights the long, bitter history between Japan and Australia over whaling. Is this boiling point? asks Andrew Bartlett.
PHOTO GALLERY: Sperm whale nibbles on a giant squid
That rarely seen creature of the sea, a giant squid, can be viewed hanging out the side of a sperm whale’s mouth, half eaten. Previously it could only be assumed that whales ate squids because of the sucker wounds left by tentacles.
Whales are overrated
Whales, schmales, says Tom Arup: the time and energy spent on the issue of whaling is completely disproportionate to its importance. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.
Why ‘Willy’ was never truly free
The great irony of the hit ’90s children’s film Free Willy was that the star of the show — an orca named Keiko — himself could never truly be freed, spending too long in captivity to ever adapt back to his native waters.
How the GFC affects the whales
Even the environment is affected by the current credit crunch.
Whale tosses seal 50ft in air
Whale has the time of his life; seal, not so much.
Four and a half thousand Kilometres or so Southwest of Fremantle
On the bridge of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza
