A Japanese whaling ship is still stranded in the Southern Ocean

A Japanese whaling ship is still stranded in the Southern Ocean

Source Link: stuff.co.nz

The Nisshin Maru sent out a distress call from the Ross Sea early on Thursday after a fire erupted below deck.

The fire left dead crew member, 27-year-old Kazutaka Makita, whose body was recovered below deck yesterday after the blaze burnt itself out.

Maritime New Zealand spokesman Steve Corbett said the Government, fearing an environmental catastrophe, wanted the ship out of Ross Sea "as quickly and as safely as possible

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Its worth nothing that the New Zealand government is responsible for search and rescue operations in the area that the Nisshin Maru is stranded. As for the problem itself the Japanese appear to have put there desire for whale meat ahead of there own ability to with emergency's such as this.

Even thou there have been no reports of the Nisshin Maru leaking oil if the ship is stranded there for to long the gathering ice could inflict damage causing an oil leak. If an oil leak occurs there would be an environmental disaster.

The Japanese are yet to request assistance from Greenpeace or the NZ government.

[edit on 17-2-2007 by xpert11]

The ship should be towed back to the nearest port with tough anti-whaling laws where the crew can be imprisoned and the boat seized.

Djohnsto77 its a nice thought but even if the ship was towed to a New Zealand port nothing illegal has taken place unless the Japanese have caught and killed a species of whale that isn't a Mink of Fin or they have gone over there quoter.

It is possible that the Japanese have broken the law and that could be why they are refusing assistance. They could dispose of the evidence but due to the fact that the ship is being monitored they would risk getting caught.

The Japanese could also be just trying to save face. I have no time for commercial whaling when I was younger I once suggested that the seas around Antarctica should be mined to prevent commercial whaling. I don't support that course of action now although it might be better then protest ships ramming factory ships.

Whilst they are stranded they can't hunt more whales.

Bring the whole fleet down and ensure they become stranded too

I'm far from an expert on international whaling laws & agreements. If I was in charge, I'd make any commercial whaling illegal though. I don't see why anyone in this day and age and with what we know about these animals could ever want to kill one just for its meat or fat or oil or anything else.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I'm far from an expert on international whaling laws & agreements. If I was in charge, I'd make any commercial whaling illegal though. I don't see why anyone in this day and age and with what we know about these animals could ever want to kill one just for its meat or fat or oil or anything else.

I agree with you on both counts.
Lets just say the Japanese cultural mentality ensures that they fail to grasp the fact that the only reason Whale numbers have rebounded is due the ban on commercial whaling. They also fail to grasp that if they resume commercial whaling they wont have any Whales to eat in the future. That along with the fact that they sends ships to areas where they cant be supported in the case of an emergency.

An update

The crew of a Japanese whaler, which has been stranded off the Antarctica coast for 10 days, have managed to restart the ship's engines and sail from the area.
However, no decision has been made as to whether the fleet, which includes the stricken Nisshin Maru, will now return to Japan or complete testing on the ship at sea before continuing their whaling program.
"What they need to do now, is they need to make some adjustments in terms of navigation, steering, those sorts of issues," a spokesman for the Japanese whaling program, Glen Inwood, said.
"They need to actually just test the vessel under working conditions as it sails along.

Link

So far so good. It is still unacceptable that the Japanese put there pride before the environment a disaster has been averted at least for now.
But what about next time ?