Whaling

Analysis and Comment (10)

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Meet a minke whale: should Japan be allowed to continue taking whales in the name of science? Len2040/Flickr

Australia takes Japan to court on whaling – where to now?

By Tony Press, University of Tasmania and Julia Jabour, University of Tasmania

From June 26 to July 6 2013 one of the most intriguing environmental court cases in years will be heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Australia has taken Japan to court over…
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The Institute of Cetacean Research has accused the Sea Shepherd of ramming its vessels at sea. AAP/The Institute of Cetacean Research

Arrrrrrrrr the Sea Shepherds really pirates?

By Tamsin Paige

The US ninth circuit Court of Appeal has decided today that Sea Shepherd activists are pirates. The decision begins with colourful rhetoric about the appearance of pirates throughout fiction, but it addresses…
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Sea Shepherd has just launched its new ship, the Sam Simon, but it might not see much action if a US court has its way. AAP Image/Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Carolina Castro

US court harpoons whaling protesters

By Tim Stephens

On Monday a US federal appeals court granted an injunction requiring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stay at least “500 yards” (457 metres) away from Japanese whaling vessels. It is a significant…
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Minke whale breaching: Australian delegates to the International Whaling Commission should not have been surprised by South Korea’s embrace of sanctioned whaling, which we should accept given certain provisos. Flickr/Martin Cathrae

Korean whaling: looking deeper than posturing and ignorance

By Richard Broinowski

South Korea’s announcement to the International Whaling Commission meeting in Panama last week that it would permit “scientific” whaling in accordance with Article VIII of the IWC Convention surprised…
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South Korea says following Japan in their whaling pursuits for “scientific” purposes is not open to moral debate. Flickr.Issac Kohane

Can South Korea justify its plans for ‘scientific’ whaling?

By Lars Bejder, Murdoch University

The Australian government has sought urgent high level talks over an announcement by South Korea that it intends to resume whaling for “scientific” reasons. South Korea delegate Park Jeong-Seok has told…
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People love to be close to whales. AAP

Watching whales makes more economic sense than hunting them

By Stephen Wearing, University of Technology, Sydney

Whales have become a synecdoche for nature in contemporary society’s debate over how to use the resources of the planet. This has only escalated in recent years with the hotting up of debate between Australia…

Research Briefs (3)

Humpback whale numbers on the rise

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

The number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean could be higher than previously thought. 2008 estimates placed…

Participants (41)