Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Most Senseless Environmental Crime of the 20th Century
The Most Senseless Environmental Crime of the 20th Century
By Charles Homans
Fifty years ago 180,000 whales disappeared from the oceans without a trace, and researchers are still trying to make sense of why. Inside the most irrational environmental crime of the century.
In the fall of 1946, a 508-foot ship steamed out of the port of Odessa, Ukraine. In a previous life she was called the Wikinger (Viking) and sailed under the German flag, but she had been appropriated by the Soviet Union after the war and renamed the Slava (Glory). The Slava was a factory ship, crewed and equipped to separate one whale every 30 minutes into its useful elements, destined for oil, canned meat and liver, and bone meal. Sailing with her was a retinue of smaller, nimbler catcher vessels, their purpose betrayed by the harpoon guns mounted atop each clipper bow. They were bound for the whaling grounds off the coast of Antarctica. It was the first time Soviet whalers had ventured so far south.
The work began inauspiciously. In her first season, the Slava caught just 386 whales. But by the fifthbefore which the fleets crew wrote a letter to Stalin pledging to bring home more than 500 tons of whale oilthe Slavas annual catch was approaching 2,000. The next year it was 3,000. Then, in 1957, the ships crew discovered dense conglomerations of humpback whales to the north, off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. There were so many of them, packed so close together, the Slavas helicopter pilots joked that they could make an emergency landing on the animals backs.
In November 1959, the Slava was joined by a new fleet led by the Sovetskaya Ukraina, the largest whaling factory ship the world had ever seen. By now the harpoonerstalented marksmen whose work demanded the dead-eyed calm of a sniperwere killing whales faster than the factory ships could process them. Sometimes the carcasses would drift alongside the ships until the meat spoiled, and the flensers would simply strip them of the blubbera whaler on another fleet likened the process to peeling a bananaand heave the rest back into the sea.
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/the-senseless-environment-crime-of-the-20th-century-russia-whaling-67774/
By Charles Homans
Fifty years ago 180,000 whales disappeared from the oceans without a trace, and researchers are still trying to make sense of why. Inside the most irrational environmental crime of the century.
In the fall of 1946, a 508-foot ship steamed out of the port of Odessa, Ukraine. In a previous life she was called the Wikinger (Viking) and sailed under the German flag, but she had been appropriated by the Soviet Union after the war and renamed the Slava (Glory). The Slava was a factory ship, crewed and equipped to separate one whale every 30 minutes into its useful elements, destined for oil, canned meat and liver, and bone meal. Sailing with her was a retinue of smaller, nimbler catcher vessels, their purpose betrayed by the harpoon guns mounted atop each clipper bow. They were bound for the whaling grounds off the coast of Antarctica. It was the first time Soviet whalers had ventured so far south.
The work began inauspiciously. In her first season, the Slava caught just 386 whales. But by the fifthbefore which the fleets crew wrote a letter to Stalin pledging to bring home more than 500 tons of whale oilthe Slavas annual catch was approaching 2,000. The next year it was 3,000. Then, in 1957, the ships crew discovered dense conglomerations of humpback whales to the north, off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. There were so many of them, packed so close together, the Slavas helicopter pilots joked that they could make an emergency landing on the animals backs.
In November 1959, the Slava was joined by a new fleet led by the Sovetskaya Ukraina, the largest whaling factory ship the world had ever seen. By now the harpoonerstalented marksmen whose work demanded the dead-eyed calm of a sniperwere killing whales faster than the factory ships could process them. Sometimes the carcasses would drift alongside the ships until the meat spoiled, and the flensers would simply strip them of the blubbera whaler on another fleet likened the process to peeling a bananaand heave the rest back into the sea.
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/the-senseless-environment-crime-of-the-20th-century-russia-whaling-67774/
I feel nauseous.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 658 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (2)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Most Senseless Environmental Crime of the 20th Century (Original Post)
Nuclear Unicorn
Sep 2014
OP
Cha
(297,539 posts)1. :(
Turbineguy
(37,364 posts)2. The Soviets record
on the environment is something the republicans and libertarians can only dream about.