Forget whales, dugongs are the ones on the brink

Sydney - Aborigines in Australia's remote north-east are free to hunt threatened dugongs to extinction. They can kill them for cultural reasons, for fun, for food, for any reason. The Japanese, on the other hand, are castigated for exercising what they say is a cultural right to hunt for whales in the Antarctic. There are calls for Australia's military to use whatever force is necessary to send Japan's whaling fleet packing. Prominent Northern Territory commercial fisherman Peter Manning says that in 2002, when the last survey was done, aboriginal fisherman were harpooning 1,600 dugongs a year off Cape York. Manning says the large, seal-like marine mammals could now be under greater threat than whales in the Southern Ocean. Political correctness among white urban elites is the reason the dugong kill goes on unchecked, Manning says. 'It's because it's an indigenous fishery and they don't want to upset people,' he said. 'Regardless of who it is, there needs to be management so that we know exactly what's been taken and whether that amount is sustainable or not. 'People in the south of Australia just don't realise that we have these animals here and they are being taken.'

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techApr 5th, 2008 - 15:12:26

Gaiacomm International terahertz technology can be used for IED detection and for wireless broadband communications. It also can be used as a replacement for SONAR, thus having considerations for the mammels of the seas!

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Forget whales, dugongs are the ones on the brink

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