High fuel costs to 'kill off' Japanese whaling

[Annces]

They've been pursued by environmental activists through the Southern Ocean for years, but in an ironic twist, the rising cost of fuel could just be the undoing of Japanese whalers, the head of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling foundation believes.

"The entire Antarctic campaign will cost us a couple million dollars but our biggest expense is fuel as fuel prices increase," Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd's flagship Steve Irwin vessel, told brisbanetimes.com.au in an exclusive interview yesterday.

"It's sort of a good thing though, because it increases the fuel prices for the whalers and they are paying a lot more than we are.

"As long as we can keep the Japanese whaling fleet on the run, we will continue to cost them money and we will continue to save whales.''

Captain Watson, who co-founded Greenpeace, said Japanese whalers had only taken half their quota of the sea giants for the last two seasons, and the company behind the controversial practice was now in debt to the Japanese government to the tune of more than $US50 million.

"I don't think they can go three years in a row with these kinds of losses. All we need to do is get down there keep chasing them and prevent them from killing whales," he said.

"We're not going to surrender, we're not going to retreat they're going to have to pull out.

"I think we've beaten them."

The Steve Irwin has been docked in Brisbane since late last month and will be undergoing a significant refit at the Forcgas Cairncross dockyard at Morningside over the next four months ahead of another planned departure to the Southern Ocean to protect endangered whales in December.


As well as the refit operation, the Sea Shephered foundation will announce a partnership with global cosmetics company Lush to protest against the practice of shark finning and challenge the Queensland government over a proposed shark fin fishery on the Great Barrier Reef.


Interview Watson, Australia

http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/?rid=40501



Lush Handmade Vegan Soaps




full article

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/high-fuel-costs-to-kill-off-japanese-whaling/2008/08/14/1218307058660.html

[flvegan]

1. Whatever it takes.

Lush is already onboard with their campaign, too:

Lush and Sea Shepherd team-up for global campaign against shark fishing industry

Sydney - It’s flank speed against shark fishing for Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society - announcing a new partnership with Lush to raise global awareness of the plight of sharks and publicly shame the Queensland Fisheries Department (DPI&F) proposal to open a dedicated finfish fishery on the Great Barrier Reef.

Lush will be running an international campaign in over 550 stores worldwide in the coming months to draw attention to the fact that over 90% of the world’s sharks have already been wiped out and, with 100,000,000 sharks a year being killed for their fins, flesh, cartilage and oils, that the situation for these vitally important marine animals has become critical. Lush will have a window campaign, in-store educational materials and a new product, Shark Fin Soap the sale of which will benefit Sea Shepherd, as part of the campaign.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080812_1.html