Won't someone please think of the whales?
Australia, I'm proud. We stood up for what we believed in and won a referendum on whaling.
For those who don't know, whaling was one of Australia's first industries. Unfortunately, during the 20th Century, too many whales were killed, forcing the creation of an International Whaling Commission. The Commission was set up to 'to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry'.
During the 1970's, Australia decided that it wasn't going to kill whales anymore. We remain part of the Commission in order to make sure that no-one else does either.
Anyways, to cut a long story short, Japan wanted to kill a whole heap of whales for scientific research, even though everyone knows they just want to eat them.
Or to quote The Australian - "Japan will argue that it be allowed to double its minke whale massacre and add endangered humpback and fin whales to its sushi trains ... sorry, legitimate scientific laboratories. "
Um... did someone say "objective journalism," or did I just hear a toilet flush?
There was a vote and Australia won. We finally showed those sushi eaters that they can't kill our whales and get away with it.
I don't remember Australians being as passionate about anything water-based that didn't involve tight Speedos, a latex cap and 50 metre laps.
A few of my mates got passionate last night, but that was when the bill came at dinner. Someone shortchanged, even though others left a tip. In the ensuing melee, accounts were settled and eventually a 20 cent tip was left.
But, I'm proud nonetheless. Conservation is an issue seldom understood by my compatriots.
We've introduced animals - predators and farm animals - that have either destroyed habitats or food sources, or have just gone after the animals themselves.
We've destroyed habitats in the name of industry.
In fact, over the history of this country, 19 mammals have become extinct, with a further 10 being extinct on the mainland. More than anywhere else over the same time period. Hundreds more threatened. Australia is home to more endangered species than any other continent.
Not bad for 200 years work.
So, how did we manage to psych ourselves up to Save the Whales?
It was actually pretty easy to get Australians worked up over the issue. All the anti-whaling lobby had to do was say that the whales were 'Australian'. Headlines screamed across newspapers, "Japan to kill Australian whales"
Guess that makes Japan un-Australian?
Just a quick question - what makes a whale Australian?
Because, unless the whale has appeared in a Victoria Bitter commercial, it can hardly be seen as a true Australian.
Anyways, it's always been easy to stir the emotions of xenophobic Australia.
Typically, emotive Australians come up with some amazing unworkable and illogical ideas. One idea is the call to ban all Japanese imports until they stop slaughtering the whales.
Genius. Japan is Australia's largest trading partner, accounting for 13.0 per cent of Australia's imports and 19.5 per cent of Australia's exports.
Wonder how the Japanese would react to an Australian ban on imports?
Not to mention the practical implications of an import ban leading to a distinct lack of cars and stereo systems?
But I digress. Back to the un-Australian whales.
Do they have passports? They'd better be careful entering Australian waters - the navy might chuck them in a detention centre.
And here lies the issue.
The whales enter and leave Australian waters once a year. It's called migration. This whale season coincides with winter and spring (June to November) when the whales migrate north from the Antarctic to warmer Australian waters and then head south again. (It's only once the whale is outside Australian waters that it's at risk.)
Interesting. So, if I wanted to, say, watch a whale, I'd be able to go to the Australian coast between the months of June and November for a birds-eye view.
What am I getting at? What does this all come down to?
The usual stuff - money.
"Whale watching in Australia is growing at an even faster rate than previously estimated - twice as many (approximately 1.6 million) tourists engaged in whale watching in 2003 than in 1998. Direct revenues from the whale watching industry doubled in that period, while indirect revenue is estimated to have increased four-fold". - Source
Dollar amount? Over US$200 million. - Source
Meanwhile, over at Sushi Train, meat from the whales killed for research is sold commercially, with the proceeds - about US$52 million in 2003 - going back into funding the annual hunts. - Source
So, how did Australia suddenly become so conservationist?
I guess we just needed to.
Game, set, match - whales.
For those who don't know, whaling was one of Australia's first industries. Unfortunately, during the 20th Century, too many whales were killed, forcing the creation of an International Whaling Commission. The Commission was set up to 'to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry'.
During the 1970's, Australia decided that it wasn't going to kill whales anymore. We remain part of the Commission in order to make sure that no-one else does either.
Anyways, to cut a long story short, Japan wanted to kill a whole heap of whales for scientific research, even though everyone knows they just want to eat them.
Or to quote The Australian - "Japan will argue that it be allowed to double its minke whale massacre and add endangered humpback and fin whales to its sushi trains ... sorry, legitimate scientific laboratories. "
Um... did someone say "objective journalism," or did I just hear a toilet flush?
There was a vote and Australia won. We finally showed those sushi eaters that they can't kill our whales and get away with it.
I don't remember Australians being as passionate about anything water-based that didn't involve tight Speedos, a latex cap and 50 metre laps.
A few of my mates got passionate last night, but that was when the bill came at dinner. Someone shortchanged, even though others left a tip. In the ensuing melee, accounts were settled and eventually a 20 cent tip was left.
But, I'm proud nonetheless. Conservation is an issue seldom understood by my compatriots.
We've introduced animals - predators and farm animals - that have either destroyed habitats or food sources, or have just gone after the animals themselves.
We've destroyed habitats in the name of industry.
In fact, over the history of this country, 19 mammals have become extinct, with a further 10 being extinct on the mainland. More than anywhere else over the same time period. Hundreds more threatened. Australia is home to more endangered species than any other continent.
Not bad for 200 years work.
So, how did we manage to psych ourselves up to Save the Whales?
It was actually pretty easy to get Australians worked up over the issue. All the anti-whaling lobby had to do was say that the whales were 'Australian'. Headlines screamed across newspapers, "Japan to kill Australian whales"
Guess that makes Japan un-Australian?
Just a quick question - what makes a whale Australian?
Because, unless the whale has appeared in a Victoria Bitter commercial, it can hardly be seen as a true Australian.
Anyways, it's always been easy to stir the emotions of xenophobic Australia.
Typically, emotive Australians come up with some amazing unworkable and illogical ideas. One idea is the call to ban all Japanese imports until they stop slaughtering the whales.
Genius. Japan is Australia's largest trading partner, accounting for 13.0 per cent of Australia's imports and 19.5 per cent of Australia's exports.
Wonder how the Japanese would react to an Australian ban on imports?
Not to mention the practical implications of an import ban leading to a distinct lack of cars and stereo systems?
But I digress. Back to the un-Australian whales.
Do they have passports? They'd better be careful entering Australian waters - the navy might chuck them in a detention centre.
And here lies the issue.
The whales enter and leave Australian waters once a year. It's called migration. This whale season coincides with winter and spring (June to November) when the whales migrate north from the Antarctic to warmer Australian waters and then head south again. (It's only once the whale is outside Australian waters that it's at risk.)
Interesting. So, if I wanted to, say, watch a whale, I'd be able to go to the Australian coast between the months of June and November for a birds-eye view.
What am I getting at? What does this all come down to?
The usual stuff - money.
"Whale watching in Australia is growing at an even faster rate than previously estimated - twice as many (approximately 1.6 million) tourists engaged in whale watching in 2003 than in 1998. Direct revenues from the whale watching industry doubled in that period, while indirect revenue is estimated to have increased four-fold". - Source
Dollar amount? Over US$200 million. - Source
Meanwhile, over at Sushi Train, meat from the whales killed for research is sold commercially, with the proceeds - about US$52 million in 2003 - going back into funding the annual hunts. - Source
So, how did Australia suddenly become so conservationist?
I guess we just needed to.
Game, set, match - whales.
posted by The Groin at 3:12 pm
3 Comments:
that was a rather poor blog.
Objective Journalism? Mate, forget the objective journalism, it's obviously an opinion piece, and the whole whaling thing only has any reporting and ethical force because of australias opinion. So don't come up with this bull that the Australian has a responsibility not to give any opinion in an opinion piece.
So then you have a cynical viewpoint of what is becoming known as chequebook environmentalism.
There are some major voices out there that realise that promoting a capitalist valuation on animals makes governments much happier to be involved in conservation of the environment than anything else. This has proven true in africa as a means to stop poaching, where tourists and legalised hunters (who pay $10000 or so) to kill something ensure that governments there become very very good at making sure that the interesting funny looking animals stick around.
Funnily enough, this is what Australia is doing - and good on 'em. I like walking down past tamarama and seeing whales in the distance.
If The motivation is money and not the whale, or the animal, I still dont care. The end justifies the means.
Tottally Disagree with everything you wrote about your ex-girlfriend.
Can't say I agree with whaling (why hurt any animals that might be more intelligent than us? Jealousy?).... but- your argument brings up some interesting points....
Like why do Aussies ssem so outraged at whaling (which apparently would be un-Australian ... since we seemed to have claimed the whales as our own. Let's see if we still want to call them Aussie when they throw a phone at a hotel clerk? ;-)). Anyway- the point I was tryong to make is- why is killing Aussie whales for food so terrible- while eating our national symbol seems to be not only acceptable but downright trendy? Something seems amiss here, no?
I think it's much like the smoking issue- we've grown up with so much 'save the whales' propaganda, that the thought of considering it anything but evil is simply outside our mental framework. How does this relate to smoking, you ask? Don't know about you- but I find myself standing in an outdoor mall (eg. Pitt St mall) while on a smoke break from work- and as a mother with child walks by I find myself mouthing the word 'sorry' to her as she brings her child closer to my cancerous billowing smoke. Let's just say even us smokers seem to feel like we are knowingly doing something wrong or evil....
So why is this a problem? We (Aussies) seem to be relying on the concept of 'social norms' to tell us whether to condemn or support a political movement or philosophy. I don't think it does come down to money for the average Aussie- I think the average Aussie was truly outraged at the thought of 'our' whales disappearing at the hands of evil, hungry Japanese fisherman (so cute on video games- but put them in a uniform..... ;-)).
Anyway- I can't possibly concentrate on work at this hour on a Friday- so that was my two sense!
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