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南極再度成為捕鯨戰場

2011年07月20日
摘譯自2011年7月12日英國,澤西島,聖赫利爾;段譽豪編譯;蔡麗伶審校

一對小鬚鯨母子在南大洋被日本的捕鯨船捕獲。圖片來自:澳洲海關。南極附近的海域今年將再度成為捕鯨角力的戰場,日本的一名高級官員對BBC新聞說,日本將繼續派遣捕鯨船隊前往南極,而海洋牧者(Sea Shepherd)的反捕鯨船將在那裡阻撓捕鯨。

今年的國際捕鯨委員會(International Whaling Commission, IWC)年度會議11日在澤西島舉行,森下丈二表示,日本計畫派遣其捕鯨船隊到南大洋進行「科研」捕鯨。IWC允許進行捕鯨以進行科學研究,但商業捕鯨是被禁止的,這項全球性的禁令發布自1986年。

森下丈二。圖片來自:FCCJ。IWC日本副專員,同時也是日本漁業署專員森下表示,我們正在討論如何把日本的船隊送回南冰洋。日本必須克服經濟困難以及新的漏油規定,並且要處理在高速船隻上反捕鯨人士的決心。

海洋牧者保育協會迫使日本提早結束上一個捕鯨季,他們表示將到南大洋再次阻止日本捕鯨。

日本的船隊在二月離開了南大洋,提早六週結束捕鯨。在多次與海洋牧者的三艘保育船發生衝突後,他們自訂的目標有九成沒有達成。

在IWC的會議上,日本代表團提出了與海洋牧者的保育船互動間的「海上安全」議題影片,內容包括保育人士向捕鯨船甲板投擲惡臭的丁酸瓶、企圖用繩索破壞螺旋槳、阻擋船隻路線以阻止死鯨被拉上船。日本宣稱被海洋牧者的船隻衝撞,而海洋牧者則說是日本船撞他們。

IWC的日本代表一再表示,要譴責海洋牧者的「恐怖」暴力行為,絕不能姑息,並且要求海洋牧者保育船的登記國澳洲與荷蘭要採取行動。

海洋牧者的創辦人兼總裁Paul Watson船長表示,海洋牧者的目標是「在經濟上令日本的捕鯨船沉沒,並且讓他們的非法行為破產。」

雖然不能進入IWC舉行會議的法國酒店(Hotel de France),「鯨魚與婦女反捕鯨沖浪者」(Surfers for Cetaceans and Women against Whaling)的成員也加入了海洋牧者的成員以及支持者,在酒店前進行抗議。

「澤西島沒有關於入侵的法律,所以保全沒有權力叫我們離開。」Watson 說,「不過我們不是來這裡尋釁滋事,我們與警方也沒有爭執。我們對能夠在IWC的門前,用一個小時表達我們的關切感到滿意,我們已經讓與會代表們知道我們的存在。」

拿著已過期的貨幣,海洋牧者行動人士rgie Dicks, Paul Watson 以及 Howie Cooke在IWC會議的門外進行抗議。圖片來自:Simon Ager / 海洋牧者保育協會。成捆來自俄羅斯、前蘇聯集團國家、伊拉克、辛巴威的舊貨幣被拋向天空,象徵著「日本多年來進行的賄賂行為,買票以求對捕鯨政策的支持。」Watson 說,「這麼做也是對英國的提議表示支持,英國要求調查IWC內部的腐敗情形。」

鯨魚保育人士指控日本、挪威與冰島等三國,以替其他小國支付會員費的方式買票。

西北太平洋灰鯨數量已剩下不到130頭,其中只有大約30頭可繁殖的雌鯨,但俄羅斯遠東區的薩哈林島靠近灰鯨覓食區的附近,近海石油與天然氣開採計畫仍在擴大。

一些政府與環保組織警告,鑽油平台的計畫區靠近母鯨教導幼鯨覓食的場所。

世界自然基金會(WWF)敦促參與薩哈林島開發的公司,包括艾克森、殼牌、俄羅斯天然氣公司、英國石油以及俄羅斯石油公司,延緩開發計畫,直到由專家組成的委員會評估過對西方灰鯨的衝擊並做出建議。

世界自然基金會同時要求這些公司,今後要避免在建議新設的薩哈林海洋聯邦野生動物保護區內活動。

每年有超過30萬頭鯨魚與海豚、江豚等被漁具纏繞致死,小頭鼠海豚是世界最小型的鯨目動物,現在僅剩245頭,是因為被漁具纏繞無法呼吸而溺斃。小頭鼠海豚是一種小型的江豚,是加州墨西哥灣的特有種。

Wendy Elliott 是世界自然基金會在IWC會議代表團的領隊,他說:「全球海洋的鯨魚在21世紀面臨危機,石油與天然氣作業、航運以及不負責任的漁業,使得數種鯨豚數量大減。」

「IWC必須更有效的處理我們海洋中鯨魚所面臨的大量威脅,」Elliott 說,「對IWC來說,這是一個挑戰,也是一個機會,以成為現代化與有效的一個機構。」

冰島捕鯨船正將小鬚鯨拉入港口。圖片來自:綠色和平組織。英國的鯨豚保育協會(WDCS)警告,冰島捕鯨業者所屠宰的小鬚鯨肉中,至少有35%被造訪當地的遊客所消費,這些人往往不知道他們的菜單對商業捕鯨是一種變相的支持。

WDCS正在發起一項宣傳運動,要讓到訪冰島的遊客注意,「他們的餐盤內的食物被送上以前,這些宏偉又聰明的動物是怎樣受到不人道的殺害。」

WDCS在一項聲明中說,「我們看到有越來越多的遊客,從賞鯨船下來後直接走進供應鯨肉的餐廳。」冰島現在有超過100間餐廳與商店將小鬚鯨肉當成異國美食來販售,有煙薰、醃製或切成鯨魚排來燒烤。

WDCS已經發出一份指南,列出供應鯨肉的餐廳以及冰島當地的鯨肉用語,讓遊客避免在餐廳內意外點到幾個小時前才觀賞過的鯨魚。

Antarctic Again to Be Whaling Battleground
ST. HELIER, Jersey, UK, July 12, 2011 (ENS)

The seas around Antarctica will be the scene of confrontations over whaling again this year.

Japan will send its whaling fleet to the Antarctic again, a senior Japanese official has told BBC News, and the Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling vessels will be there to disrupt the hunt.

At the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission, which opened Monday in Jersey, Joji Morishita said Japan plans to send its whaling fleet back to the Southern Ocean to conduct "research" whaling. The IWC allows scientific research but not commercial whaling, which has been banned worldwide since 1986.

"We are now discussing how we can send our fleet back to the Antarctic Ocean," said Morishita, Japan's deputy commissioner to the IWC and a career official in the Fisheries Agency. Japan must overcome financial difficulties and new oil spill regulations in addition to dealing with whale defenders in fast ships determined to prevent whaling.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which forced an early end to Japan's whale hunt last season, says its ships will sail to the Southern Ocean again to disrupt the Japanese whale hunt.

The Japanese fleet left the Southern Ocean in February six weeks ahead of schedule without taking 90 percent of their self-appointed quota after repeated clashes with the three Sea Shepherd vessels.

At the IWC meeting, the Japanese delegation showed "safety at sea" footage of interaction with Sea Shepherd ships last season - images of conservationists hurling bottles of stinky butyric acid onto the decks, using rope in attempts to foul the whalers' propellers and blocking the shipways to prevent dead whales from being hoisted aboard. The Japanese claim to have been rammed by Sea Shepherd vessels, while the Sea Shepherd claims the Japanese rammed them.

The Japanese IWC delegation said repeatedly that the Sea Shepherd's "terrorist" violence must not be condoned but condemned and asked the countries under which the Sea Shepherd vessels are flagged - The Netherlands and Australia - to take action.

Sea Shepherd's objective is "to sink the Japanese whaling fleet economically and bankrupt their illegal activities," said Watson.

While not allowed inside the Hotel de France where the IWC is meeting, Sea Shepherd crew and supporters were joined by members of Surfers for Cetaceans and Women against Whaling in front of the hotel.

"Jersey does not have any trespass laws so the security guards had no legal authority to order us to leave the area," said Watson. "However, we are not here to cause trouble and we certainly have no argument with the Jersey police. We were able to bring our concerns to the doorstep of the IWC for at least an hour, so we're quite satisfied that we have made the delegates aware of our presence."

Bundles of outdated currency from Russia, former Soviet bloc nations, Iraq, and Zimbabwe were tossed into the air to symbolize "the bribery that Japan has been practicing for years to buy votes for their pro-whaling policy," said Watson. "This was also done to support the United Kingdom's proposal to investigate corruption within the IWC."

Whale conservationists have accused the three whaling nations, Japan, Norway and Iceland, of buying the votes of smaller member countries by paying their membership fees.

Fewer than 130 Western North Pacific gray whales remain, only about 30 breeding females, yet offshore oil and gas projects near their feeding grounds off Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East are expanding.

Several governments and conservation groups warn that an oil platform is planned adjacent to the area where mother whales teach their calves to feed.

WWF is urging the companies involved in Sakhalin - Exxon, Shell, Gazprom, BP and Rosneft - to postpone development until a commission of experts has assessed the impact on Western gray whales and made recommendations.

WWF is also demanding that the companies avoid any future activities inside the proposed new Sakhalin Marine Federal Wildlife Reserve.

Entanglement in fishing gear kills 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises each year. There are just 245 individuals remaining of the world's smallest cetacean, the vaquita, due to entanglement in gillnets which prevent the animals from coming to the surface to breathe. The vaquita is a small porpoise endemic to Mexico's Gulf of California.

"In the 21st century, whales in the world`s oceans are in crisis. Oil and gas operations, shipping, and irresponsible fishing are decimating several whale and dolphin species," said Wendy Elliott, who heads the WWF delegation to the IWC meeting.

"The IWC must become more effective in dealing with the vast number of threats to whales in our oceans and seas," said Elliott. "This will be a challenge, but is also an opportunity for the IWC to become a modern and effective body."

At least 35 percent of the meat from minke whales slaughtered by Icelandic whalers is eaten by tourists visiting the country, who often have no idea that their menu selection is propping up commercial whaling, warns the UK-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

WDCS is launching an awareness campaign aimed at tourists visiting Iceland to draw attention to "the inhumane way in which these magnificent and intelligent creatures are killed before they are served up."

"We are seeing increasing numbers of tourists walking off whale watching vessels and straight into restaurants that serve whale meat," the group said in a statement. More than 100 Icelandic restaurants and shops are currently selling minke whale meat as an exotic food - smoked, marinated or cut into steaks for grilling.

WDCS has issued a list of restaurants with whale on the menu and a guide to whale meat terms in Icelandic, so that tourists can avoid accidentally ordering the whale they watched only hours before.

全文及圖片詳見:ENS報導

作者

蔡麗伶(LiLing Barricman)

In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.