United States Magistrate Judge Kelley Arnold on Monday sentenced Wayne Johnson to five months at the federal detention center at SeaTac for leading a group of rogue Makah tribal members on an illegal Gray Whale hunt last fall. Five months is more than federal prosecutors wanted, but it isn't really enough given the severity of the crime. Even though they shot the Whale 16 times with an "elephant gun," and jammed it with four harpoons, they botched the hunt, and it took the Whale over 12 hours to die. The official charge was violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Wayne's special buddy Andy Noel will only have to do 90 days in jail. Both will also have to perform community service and will be on probation for a year. Three others participants in the illegal and unsanctioned Whale murder, William Secor, Theron Parker, and Frankie Gonzales copped a plea deal with federal prosecutors so they will skip jail but will have to perform 100 to 150 hours of community service and serve two years of probation--they got off easy. All the men were fined between $25 and $50 each which is less than a parking ticket...I guess tribal membership has some privileges.

Wayne's cellmate and new "special buddy."

Read.

Even though the penalty for killing this Gray Whale in Washington State is not that severe, compared to the results of the latest International Whaling Commission meeting in Santiago, Chile where delegates from all over the globe lined up to kiss Japan's bloody ass, Wayne Johnson's conviction is good news.

technorati tags: , Whales, Whaling, Tribal Whaling, Washington, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Gray Whales, Moby Dick, prison violence, Gregory Peck, SeaTac, Makah

--El Tiburon

Japanese police arrested two Greenpeace activists today for stealing Whale meat. Police raided five areas where Greenpeace activists had been known to congregate. The arrested activists are 31-year-old Junichi Sato, and 41-year-old Toru Suzuki.

Here is the funny part. The so-called stolen Whale meat was confiscated over the past couple months from Japanese Whalers. It turns out that employees of Japanese Whaling operations had embezzled Whale meat that was "harvested" from Japan's Antarctic "scientific" Whaling program and sent it home to their families in order for the meat to be sold on the black market. Greenpeace had confiscated the meat as part of their investigation of the embezzlement. A police spokesman said that Sato and Suzuki were arrested for "illegally obtaining a cardboard box and trespassing." Awesome. So these to men are being prosecuted by the Japanese government for exposing the crimes and corruption of the Japanese Whaling interests. Beautiful Justice!
[source]

Here are some pictures of the Whale meat:

Yummy!

Iceland has started hunting Whales again in defiance of international law. This year the Icelandic Fishing Ministry has set a quota of up to 40 Minke Whales. Even though this is far less than the over 550 Minkes the illegal Japanese fleet killed this year, it is still a despicable disrespect of the 1986 commercial whaling ban. Not all of Iceland likes the idea of resuming commercial Whaling. Icelandic foreign minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir of the opposition party has said:

"It is clear... that the ministers of the Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) do not support the decision. I believe this is sacrificing long term interests for short term gains, despite the quota being smaller than in previous years."

Source.

Others have stated that with the Icelandic economy on shaky ground, they cannot afford potential boycotts on Icelandic seafood and other products. Other products? Like what, Bjork music downloads?

Oh, Bjork is so pretty! We have to show you her picture in it's natural unphotoshopped glory.

Behold, Bjork standing behind some traditional Icelandic fare.

So by all means Chumslickers, boycott all Icelandic products (whatever those may be) until their conservative party cuts the Whaling bullshit!

--El Tiburon

technorati tags: Whaling, Whales, Minke Whales, Japan, Iceland, Bjork, Icelandic Food

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