Good evening everyone. Earlier today I posted a blog with a small update about what is going on in the Southern Ocean between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese Whaling Fleet. The conclusion of that blog is that the Government of Australia has basically abandoned the whale sanctuary by failing to keep up it's campaign promises. They vowed to end whaling in the Southern Ocean and they also vowed to send a ship to monitor the whaling fleet. They have done neither and now it seems like the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott has really started to show his true colors.
News broke today that the PM now fully supports West Australia's Shark Cull. Originally, he seemed to be torn about it after 7 fatal shark attacks occurred off the coast in three years. Now though it seems that any doubt that he had in his mind that killing these animals is wrong is simply gone. I am sad to learn this. I really am. Since I got on board with the conservation of whales and sharks I viewed Abbott as a respectable man who could help to bring about change. Well he certainly has done that now. He has made it okay to slaughter species of shark that are on the brink of becoming endangered or extinct. He has essentially surrendered the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to Japanese Poachers while conservationists are down there doing what his government should be doing. He has failed to keep the promises he made to the people of Australia. It truly has saddened me. I really used to look at Australia as a country with marine life conservation on it's mind. Now I have little choice but to think of them as a country with marine life devastation on it's mind. I'm not talking about the good people of Australia for the record. I am specifically talking about it's government so please do not start screaming racist at me. I am far from that in this case.
Take a look around the world. People everywhere are calling for this ridiculous cull to end. They want to see whaling in the sanctuary to end. What has Australia done? Taken Japan to court where a verdict has yet to be delivered on the issue of whaling as opposed to keeping their campaign promises and now they have given the green light to slaughter protected species of shark. It's disgusting. When you have a government saying that they want to help save life in the seas, but then gives the green light to murder pregnant sharks. Something is a little wrong with that. That brings yet another issue to the cull. What is the justification of killing pregnant sharks undersized or not. Just the other day a large, pregnant tiger shark was killed and dumped at sea. In reality, a lot more than one shark was killed that day.
Sharks in general are slow to mature and breed very slowly. It's their own way of keeping their own populations in check as apex predators. It's natural. With that though, sharks become very vulnerable to overfishing which has a lot to do with why shark populations worldwide are in the sad state they are in. We just take way too many out of the seas. Now with Australia supporting the wholesale slaughter of these animals, pregnant or not, shark populations off of W.A. are in dire straights. This latest kill of a pregnant tiger shark further proves that the people who are in charge of this cull know little to nothing about the animals that they are killing. To any audience in Australia that may be reading this...
Continue fighting for these animals. You guys are the ones who are going to be the ones to make the change in this dark time. All of us around the world support you and will continue asking your government to stop the killings, but ultimately you guys are the ones who will make the change. Sea Shepherd Australia, West Australians For Shark Conservation, and all the other groups out there documenting this cull and keeping it in the daylight. I say Thank You and never stop doing what you are doing for these animals. Sea Shepherd Australia, best of luck in court against the government of this atrocious cull. We can only hope that justice will prevail.
