As the whale hunting season in the Southern Oceans come to an end, Militant activist Paul Watson declares it the most successful anti-whale campaign ever. He estimates that activities have reduced to kill count by at least half, or totalling some 70 - 80 million US dollars.

“Our objective always is to bankrupt them, to sink them economically and I think if we keep this kind of pressure on we will succeed in doing that. The only reason they’re continuing is I think out of sheer stubbornness.” says Paut Watson, speaking to AFP.

Meantime the diplomatic row between Australia and Japan continues, PM Kevin Rudd has issued a formal statement of taking Japan to court by the end of this year if they fail to resolve the issue diplomatically, which means no less than the reduction of whale kills in the Southern Ocean to zero, within a “reasonable” time frame.

It would be a Pyrrhic victory for Japan even if they won a case over the legal text of being able to conduct “lethal research”. Since this will “regrettably” sour relations between Japan and most of the international community. Japan is Australia’s top export market, with sales worth 55 billion Australian dollars (49 billion US) in the 12 months to June 2009, and is also Australia’s third-largest source of imports.

The diplomatic solution is still important because, because the bankruptcy and failure of the whaling industry will affect real livelihoods. There has yet however, been any real solutions put forwards which can amicably resolve the matter. Japan cannot be expected to give in purely from the involvement of a more active conservation group.

From another scientific news source across the globe in Portland, Dr. Andrew Persing, a biological oceanographer at the University of Maine in Orono, presented his research on the Industrial Carbon Footprint of the Whaling Industry at the American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences meeting.

Dr. Persing descrbies whales are like the forests of the marine ecosystem, they soak up millions of metric tons of CO2 in their lifetime, and when they die, sink and gets sequestered to the bottom of the ocean. Industrial whaling equates to about 385 million metric tons of CO2 put into the atmosphere, or the destruction 130,000 square kilometers of temperate forests.

Trying to relate the two news stories together, perhaps there lies a resolution for the whaling industry to convert hunting whales into whale conservation for carbon credits and tourism.

A third news regarding the tragedy of Ms. Dawn Brancheau, a Sea World trainer for killer whales. Killer whales by the way, are not part of the whale species but Orca, a family of dolphins. As unfortunate as the accident does sound, it should remind us constantly that one should never get comfortable with dangerous animals, they already show reserve in a human environment, but are best left alone in their own.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8538033.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_surfacing_behaviour
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/26/AR2010022603336_2.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Annual whale slaughter since 1986