Save the Dugongs, Ya Bastards!

Moronuki Hideki and his band of merry pranksters in the whaling division at the Fisheries Agency, folks not known for their intellectual agility, have managed to raise an issue that, pushed the right way, has a decent chance of making Australian Government officials look like shambling, dissembling hypocrites.

Tokyo responds with dugong hunt attack
The Australian

Greg Roberts -- April 02, 2008 -- The spat between Japan and Australia over whaling has intensified, with the Japanese attacking Canberra's support for the harvesting of dugongs by indigenous hunters.

The Japanese will highlight the killing of dugongs by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in a submission to the International Whaling Commission for its meeting in June in the Chilean capital of Santiago.

Islander leaders agreed yesterday that too many dugongs were being taken for traditional food.

Australia has 80 per cent of the estimated world dugong population of 100,000.

The Japanese planned to slaughter 985 minke whales last summer in Antarctic waters, ostensibly for scientific research, but harassment by anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd and monitoring by an Australian patrol vessel is believed to have reduced the kill by as much as half.

The number of minke whales killed annually by the Japanese is similar to the number of dugongs killed each year in the Torres Strait, home to 20 per cent of Australia's dugongs...

Of course, if this is the row Moronuki decides to hoe, then he is going to give the Japan-U.S. alliance managers fits.

But since when has Moronuki's gang or any of their predecessors given a damn about the pain the whaling division inflicts upon the rest of the government?

Later - Yes, I do have a soft spot for dugongs.