That's what Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said regarding Japan's ongoing Whaling practices.
"We continue to make very clear our view about whaling, which is that it has got to cease," she said.
The Federal Government has toughened its anti-whaling rhetoric since Wednesday's high-profile collision between the Ady Gil protest ship and a Japanese whaling vessel.
Source
And this is not the first time the Australian Government has threatened Japan over whaling. They believe, as many, that the Japanese are breaking international law by their whaling practices and want to force legal action to stop them. This isn't just belief of a group like the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, it's entire Countries that back this up. And I believe that the United States should also support such action.
Australia threatens Japan over whaling program
SYDNEY — Australia's prime minister threatened legal action against Japan on Friday if it does not stop its research whaling program that kills up to 1,000 whales a year.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's comments came as the Australian Broadcasting Corp. quoted Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada as saying in an interview that Japan has no plans to halt its killing of whales in the Antarctic.
"We don't accept Japan's premise for those terms of so-called scientific whaling," Rudd told Australia's Fairfax Radio Network. "If we cannot resolve this matter diplomatically, we will take international legal action. I've said that before — I'm serious about it."
So this latest clash has seems to have given the Australians new bluster. And their clear target are the Japanese and not the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Australia presses Japan on whaling safety
The futuristic anti-whaling protest boat struck by a Japanese harpoon vessel near Antarctica finally sank on Friday, prompting Australia to voice official concern about safety in the remote Southern Ocean.
Senior diplomats in Tokyo made "high-level representations" about safety in Antarctica's frigid waters. They also raised concerns about "spy flights" organized by Japanese whalers from Australian airports to track and foil protesters, Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett said.
Canberra, he said, was also keeping open the option of an international legal challenge to Japanese whaling if diplomatic negotiations with Tokyo failed to reach an outcome.
"If we don't see substantial and significant achievement in respect of those negotiations, and if we don't see it by the time the International Whaling Commission meets in June ... then the consideration of legal action will be one that will be fully in front of us," Garrett told reporters in Sydney.
It is this kind of action that will stop the Japanese and other whaling Countries from continuing their brutal killing of endangered and other whale species. Whether or not their whaling practices are a direct threat to the current population is not at question here. There are many other threats to whales besides whaling. The cumulative threats are what concern me and the fact that we would turn a blind eye to this brutal and senseless killing is beyond me. (And yes, I also do not support factory farming and inhumane farming practices. I observe and eat only sustainable fish and have actually cut down on my own consumption of meat to eating lower on the food chain. All of this is part of a collective action to attempt to lower my impact on our oceans. )
Some background...
Even though the Japanese are technically complying with the International Whaling Commission by using a loophole in the IWC 1986 ban on commercial whaling by calling their annual quotas "research", most of the whales caught wind up on the pricey Japanese whale meat market.
Lets give a background first. This time last year USA Today had the following headline...
Protests or not, Japan won't let whale meat go
As diners sit down to lunches of whale meat in Tokyo and elsewhere across the nation, Japan's whaling fleet is on its annual hunt in the Antarctic, drawing protests from environmental groups, international governments and whale-lovers worldwide. So why does Tokyo persist?
It's a really good question and it's a fair question.
Why shouldn't it, many Japanese say.
"Why do people say we can't eat the things we've eaten since the end of World War II?" asked Koji Shingu, the proprietor of a whale eatery called Yushin in Tokyo, a few blocks from the city's oldest temple, a popular tourist draw.
His feelings echo those of many older Japanese.
...
Commercial whaling is banned internationally, but the six-vessel Japanese fleet operates under permission from the International Whaling Commission, which allows hunting for research purposes. Japan plans to take up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this year, and says it sells most of the meat for food only after conducting its research.
Minke whales are not endangered, and few dispute that there are hundreds of thousands in the wild. But many feel that Tokyo's research operation is thinly veiled commercial hunting, and that harpooning whales at sea is a brutal way to kill them.
So as you see, it's a tough situation. It's a clash of culture and of rules and if the Japanese are bending these rules in order to keep a tradition that's not very old. And there are even more questions when it comes to the ethical nature Japanese whaling, the actual endangered nature of the whales (Fin whales are endangered, as are Sei whales which are also caught by the Japanese during the whaling season. Humpback whales are also in their quota and they are also considered endangered).
So back to the happenings of the last of this past week. It was just a few days ago that the Sea Shepherd was involved with the Japanese whaling fleet. There was a questionable accident between the two which I wrote about using the Treehugger headline, Japan Kills Sea Shepherd Anti Whaling Ship. For Scientific Research?
Sea Shepherd Boat Sinking Neither the kevlar reinforcing, nor a radar deflecting paint job, was enough to protect the Ady Gil trimaran from what Sea Shepherd are calling "an unprovoked attack," when the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 apparently "deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage."
...
According to the captain of another Sea Shepherd boat in the area at the time, the Japanese boat ripped about 2.5 metres (8 ft) of the Ady Gil's bow "completely off." Sea Shepherd are saying the trimaran is "sinking and chances of salvage are very grim." Although they did manage rescue the six crew.
This diary became a complex argument of maritime law and right of way. There are various videos showing different angles of the collision, etc. And there are valid discussions regarding the tactics used by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. As I am a blogger and I do not consider myself an objective journalist, I have a strong opinion about this and support their efforts if not every tactic.
The International Whaling Commission is a toothless organization that doesn't have the power or the will to stop the Japanese and other whaling nations. And I know that there are many who don't believe they should.
"Australia's government stepped up its campaign against Japanese whaling by releasing graphic footage of a minke whale and its calf being harpooned and dragged aboard a ship. The images were taken by a customs ship that has been tracking the Japanese fleet in the Antarctic to gather evidence for a diplomatic and legal battle against whaling. Japan's whaling body accused Australia of spreading 'emotional propaganda', and denied the whales were a mother and calf."
Now do something! The National Resources Defense Council has a way you can tell President Obama that you want to see this end, not only the whaling but the Dolphin Slaughter in Taiji.
Tell President Obama to help end whale and dolphin killings
Although whaling was banned in 1986, almost 1,000 whales are killed in Japan each year, as well as an additional 23,000 dolphins and porpoises. A new movie, The Cove, at last exposes this senseless slaughter to the public. Tell President Obama to stop negotiating a whaling deal with Japan and see The Cove and encourage your friends and family to see the film as well.
"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground." - Anon.