Well if the eco-loons get their way that is what they wanted newly installed Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to do:

Speaking before a presentation at Griffith University on the Gold Coast today, Capt Watson said the newly-elected Labor Government needed to take responsibility in trying to stop the Japanese fleet.

Japan exploited a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling through a loophole that allows a limited hunt for scientific research.

"We’re hoping that the new Labor Government will send Australian naval vessels down there to monitor their illegal activities," Capt Watson said.  (…)

But Capt Watson said it was time for firm action against the Japanese, who will target 935 Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales, potentially including the famous white whale Migaloo.

"By Japan targeting humpbacks, what they’re really doing is slapping Australia in the face," Capt Watson said.

"They’re saying: `We’re going to go down there and do whatever we want and your Government doesn’t have the guts to stop us’.

"All it would take to end Japanese whaling is for Australia to demand that they get out of the Australian Antarctic Territory and back that up by sending a navy vessel down there.

"Everybody’s afraid of harming trade relations with Japan. I can tell you right now Japan needs Australia more than Australia needs Japan."  [AAP]

I blogged about these eco-loons last year and here they are at it again this year.  Just to repeat what I said last year, the Japanese have a population of a 128 million, but their home islands can only produce food for 40% of their population.  That is why seafood has been a staple of the Japanese diet. 

Many Japanese feel it is hypocritical of countries like Australia and New Zealand that have small populations, but abundant land to grow food on to criticize the Japanese for providing food for their population.  Many of Japanese feel that if these countries don’t want the Japanese to harvest whales through the legal means that the IWC has allowed them to, then these countries should provide the equivalent amount of food free of charge to Japan.

Many Japanese also feel there is a racist component to this as well.  The Japanese use the scientific loophole to hunt whales while the Norwegians and Icelanders openly hunt whales commercially in violation of the IWC and yet the eco-loons aren’t asking the government to send the Royal Australian Navy to attack Norwegian whaling ships. 

Also if the Australian Navy deployed ships to intercept the Japanese whaling ships the Japanese government would be forced to deploy an overwhelming naval armada to defend the ships.  Australia would lose major face because the Japanese navy is significantly larger than Australia’s.  The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force has fifty-three advanced destroyers and frigates compared to the Royal Australian Navy’s thirteen frigates. The Japanese have twenty submarines while Australia has six.   The Australian Navy would look feeble compared to the armada the Japanese could put together.

I don’t have a problem with Kevin Rudd, he seems like a perfectly smart and capable guy, but it is the people around him that worry me and this is a perfect example.  Kevin Rudd is a former diplomat so I would be highly surprised if he gives in to the eco-loons on this issue, but I guess time will tell.

I have said this before and I will say it again, if you don’t like the International Whaling Commission’s laws then lobby to get them changed.  Everything the Japanese are doing is perfectly legal unlike the open commercial whaling the Scandinavians are doing.  I watched Free Wily 1,2, & 3 and I just recently took a whale tour off the coast of New Zealand; I like whales but not enough to start a war over them against a country violating no international laws.