Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Russia’s missile cruiser ‘Marshal Ustinov’ is on its way to joining up with the “Severomorsk” which is already in the Svalbard archipelago near Norway.
A Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo says, “We have been talking for a long time about widening our activity in the Arctic.” “There is nothing aggressive in it- it is in the interests of security.”
Protecting Russian fisherman who have been blocked from the seas around the island of Spitsbergen is said to be the aim of the patrols. Norway claims exclusive fishing rights to that area which has a U.N. designated boundary. Russia however does not recognise that boundary.
The Serveromorsk is one of Russia’s Northern Fleet’s submarine destroyer. Russia has said it plans to increase its combat presence in the area.
The seas around Spitzbergen are rich with fish and are claimed by both Norway and Russia. The ships are said to have been sent on requests for protection from Russian fishermen who have been challenged by the Norwegian navy for illegal fishing.
Svalbard was placed under Norwegian sovereignty by a 1920 treaty that Russia does not recognize. Oslo plans to name the archipelago an ‘economic zone which would further bar Russian fishermen from the area.
Spokesman Dygalo categorized the latest patrols in the area as part of “significant expansion of the activities of the Northern Fleet.”
Recognizing some international law but not others?
Dygalo says the movements of the ships will remain “in strict accordance with international law,”
Russian General Vladimir Chamanov has said the training division immediately set out (training) plans for troops that could be engaged in Arctic combat missions. This, following the response from several nations after the flag planting at the North pole.
Arctic Chess anyone?
Chamanov said in an interview with the Russian military daily news Krasnaya Zvezda, “Wars these days are won and lost well before they are launched.”
The U.S. Coast Guard plans over this summer include: The Icebreaker Healy to make as many as 3 scientific research trips into the Arctic with the National Science Foundation.
The Ice breaker Polar Sea returned to Beaufort Sea having been pulled away from the Antarctic.
The Buoy tender Spar will sail from Kodiak to make an accounting of the ’state of Arctic navigation’ assessing needs for lights, buoys and transit separation schemes along with other navigational aids.
C-130 planes will begin flying missions from Nome and Barrow.
The future is now.
Rear Adm. Arthur “Gene” Brooks, commander of Coast Guard District 17, which covers Alaska says, the “new Arctic is now; the effects of polar melting are no longer something that could happen in the distant future.”
Who has been listening indeed.
Brooks also says,”I thought when I first got here (Alaska) that this was an issue for 2020,2030 or 2040.” “My first year in Alaska convinced me the new Arctic is already here, that this is an issue for now. I go around in Alaska and talk to people and say, ‘are you seeing the same things?’ and the response I’m getting is ‘we’ve been seeing these things for years, why haven’t you been listening?’”
Knock knock…who’s there?
The wistful visions of the Arctic being a brilliant white and silent land where exotic creatures roam is a delusion. The largest open-pit mine in the world operates in the polar latitudes. The Red Dog mine sees enormous vehicles truck ore to it’s storage facilities in mile-long warehouses.
Enormous bulk cargo ships, displacing 70,000 tons or more sail through the Chukchi Sea to the the ore. They anchor 11 miles offshore and send in huge ferries to move the ore those 11 miles.
A fleet of at least 18 energy exploration ships set to explore this summer looking for anticipated huge reserves of coal and oil.
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Far more pollution has been streaming into the atmosphere in the Arctic for far long than most people realize. There is no possible way that the exhaust from all the ‘ventures’, from diamond mines to ore ferries, have not contributed substantially to the degradation of the atmosphere over the Arctic.
Ice Road Trucks. Photo Credit: Ken Woroner
‘Marshal Ustinov’ Ship Russia Warefare.Ru
Labels: Arctic, North Pole, Norway, Russia, U.S. Coast Guard
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Fire and Ice. The Arctic is heating up in more ways than one.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The meat from the slaughtered whales is sold to restaurants and supermarkets and the profits are used to fund future hunts. Nice work if you can get it! But, read further for the catch.
The Nisshin Maru has left Japan and is now heading towards the coast of Antarctica to begin the largest hunt for whales since 1963. Japan still uses the tired ‘Scientific’ whale hunt label to continue bringing death and destruction, mutilation and torture to the giants of the sea. But, so does Iceland. Norway on the other hand doesn’t try to mask it’s whaling behind the transparent sham of science. They just call their whaling ‘commercial’.
Let’s face it. The claim that Japan has made over the years that whaling is a Japanese tradition going back to the early 1600’s is a poor excuse. Defecating in a hole was a tradition dating back even longer. I don’t see anyone making a claim they should return to their old traditional toilet habits.
Adding insult to the injury that is about to take place, the SeaShepard is reporting that as the Nisshin Maru pulled out of port while crowds of well wishers were flying balloons with smiling whale pictures and cheering. One more nice touch was a brass band that played “Popeye the Sailor Man” on the dock!
Killing more than 1,000 whales will only serve to partially satiate some people’s desire to eat whale sandwiches at fast food restaurants. I contend that anyone that would find a whale sandwich desirable dinning fare, just might consider eating their own grandmother on a bun. Not before, however, they examined her earwax to determine her true age. Before you think I’ve gone bonkers, the examination of the whale’s earwax to determine age is one of the scientific probs said to be done by Japan.
Japan has killed 10,500 whales since the moratorium on commercial whaling took effect. Greenpeace has said Japan has close to 4.000 tons of whale meat in cold storage.
Iceland and Norway are also whaling. In 2006 Norway increased its quota from 797 to 1,052 whales in what was considered to be a political statement. Apparently that ’statement’ backfired because demand for the meat by the Norwegian public is down. Sue fisher from the Whale and Dolphin conservation Society said ‘Middlemen can’t see the meat already caught and have run out of storage space.”
Iceland still using the scientific exemption for their actions would, however, like to export their ’science’ to Japan. Japan is still the world’s largest market for whale meat. All of this flies in the face of ’science’.
Iceland announced plans to export whale meat from it’s scientific whaling program to the Faroe Islands. Apparently they’ll eat anything there too. The Faroe Islands maintain they are exempt from regulations prohibiting the importation of whale meat.
Arni Finnsson from Iceland Nature Conservation Association says “There is no market for this meat in Iceland, there is no possibility to export it to Japan; the government appears to have listened to fishermen who are blaming whales for eating all the fish.”
Photo thanks arigon.multiply
Labels: Iceland, Japan, Nisshin Maru, Norway, Whaling
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Is Japanese Whaling a sustainable industry?
