It’s about that time of the year where things start getting interesting out in those frigid waters of the Southern Ocean. Though this time around the news worthy stuff happened off the coast of Bunbury, when 3 Australian’s boarded the Japanese Whaling ship the Shonan Maru No.2.
Regardless of what side of the fence you are on with regards to the whole whaling issue, you would have to agree that the behaviour of the ALP Australian Government has been deplorable.
Here they are on one hand professing that they are against whaling and that they are in the process of taking Japan to the International Court about the legality of whaling, yet on the other are doing nothing to enforce the laws of Australia in territorial waters. (Whilst the court case being launched in 2010, it will be years before a decision is reached).
As Paul Watson has said a number of times, this matter highlights the hypocrisy of the Australian government. They will send the navy out after poachers in our Northern waters and detain those involved. Yet when it comes to Japan whaling in Australia’s Antartic Territorial Waters, all they do is wave a finger at them, and make a few phone calls.
Whether you think the boarding of the Shonan Maru No.2 was legal or not is beside the point. The fact of the matter is that this happened within the internationally recognised Contiguous zone of Australia, where Australia may exercise the control necessary to prevent or punish infringements of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations.
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