This evening I went for a walk along the cliff tops at Victor Harbor with the poodles on the edge of the southern ocean. It is almost winter, yet there was no wind, it was sub-tropical and gentle rain was falling. The balmy weather is very odd for late autumn on the edge of the southern ocean.

As we cruised the hilltop I kept an eye for the southern right whale, as I remembered this image:

Sebastiao Salgado, Among Giants, The Genesis series

Alas, I saw nothing. I was keenly disappointed. Then I remembered that the southern right migration to Antartica happens in June.

When I retuned to the weekender and turned on the free-to-air TV to catch the news of the day I saw that the Japanese whaling industry is moving back into killing whales again. The Japanese plan to expand their whaling catch in Antarctic waters and the Japanese Government refuses to recognize the Australian-declared whale sanctuary in Antarctica.

Japanese media reports have said that it will seek nearly to double its annual catch of Minke whales, currently set at 440, in the Antarctic and to catch the larger humpback and fin whales which are considered endangered by the World Conservation Union.