Fleet departs to hunt humpbacks

Two harpooned whales are winched aboard a Japanese whaling ship.

For the first time in more than 40 years humpback whales are to associate the sound of a ships engine with the possibility of death, rather than photo-snapping sightseers.

On Sunday the Japanese whaling fleet, departed the southern port of Shimonoseki for the waters off Antarctica in what Japan’s Fisheries Agency says is its largest-ever scientific whale hunt.

The four ships plan to kill up to 50 humpbacks, as well as 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales – more than double the number of whales Japan hunted a decade ago.

The targeting of humpbacks is the first large-scale hunt for the species since a 1963 moratorium in the Southern Pacific put the giant marine mammal under international protection and a worldwide ban was imposed in 1966.

While Japan says it needs to kill the animals in order to conduct research on their reproductive and feeding patterns, meat from the slaughtered whales ends up being sold on the commercial market and special events are conducted in Japan to promote the consumption of whale meat.

During the festive scenes that accompanies the departure of the whaling fleet, officials told the crowd that Japan should not give in to militant activists and preserve its whale-eating culture.

As a brass band played Popeye the Sailor Man and families waved little flags emblazoned with smiling whales, Hajime Ishikawa, head of this years hunt, described anti-whaling protesters as “environmental terrorists” and said  “we must fight against their hypocrisy and lies.”

However, while Japan claims it needs to kills the whales to determine their genetic composition, Australian scientists from the Southern Cross University have developed a technique that supplies many of the answers sought without the need for a single whale being killed.

Details of the the Australian technique were aired on the ABCs The 7.30 Report last week in an episode titled Busting the scientific whaling myth.

The technique involves collecting pieces of skin shed by the whales as they crash back into the water after breaching the ocean surface.

Dr Peter Harrison said the pieces of skin can identify the individual whale, it’s genealogy, and its gender. Additional research currently being conducted will enable scientists to also determine the age of the whale.

While some sources put the number of humpbacks prior to the 1963 moratorium at 1,200, Wally Franklin from the Oceania Project said that the last period of commercial whaling reduced the number of humpbacks from between 30,000 to 40,000 to about 100 or 150 individuals.

Mr Franklin said it will possibly take another 60 years for the species to return to pre-whaling levels, however the American Cetacean Society estimates the humpback population is currently about 30,000 to 40,000, or about a third of the number before modern whaling.

Although Japanese fisheries officials insist the population has returned to a sustainable level the species is still listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union.

It is estimated that about 10,000 humpback whales travel along the east coast of Australia each year on their annual migration to Antarctica where they feed, mate, and give birth close to shore, making them easy prey for whalers.

The whale-watching industry in Australia is estimated to be worth more than $A350 million per year.

The The 7.30 Report episode Busting the scientific whaling myth can be viewed at: http://abc.net.au/7.30/

ENDS:
© John Le Fevre, 2007

Telstra Australia board spits the dummy

Telstra Australia's 12 million dollar man, CEO Lou Trujillo

Charles Macek, chairman of Telstra Australia's remuneration committee

Telstra Australia's chairman Donald Mc Gauchie

The board of Telstra Australia has had a huge corporate dummy spit after almost two-thirds of its shareholders voted against massive bonuses for its senior executives, including the corporations $12 million man, ceo Sol Trujillo.

However the Telstra Australia board may defy the will of its shareholders and the bonuses may still go ahead as the vote was non-binding.

The vote to oppose the corporate bonuses is unprecedented in Australian corporate history and comes atop similar opposition to the remuneration report last year, which only passed with the support of the Federal Government, which then controlled 51 per cent of the voting stock.

Most vocal of the dummy spitters was Telstra Australia chairman, Donald Mc Gauchie, who in true corporate wobbly-throwing fashion attacked the corporate advisory firms who had urged large shareholders to oppose the motion.

The corporate advisory firms labelled as having “very limited experience” and a “tick-the-box” approach by the tantrum throwing Mr Mc Gauchie include CGI Glass Lewis, Institutional Shareholder Services, the Australian Council of Super Investors and the Future Fund.

CGI Glass Lewis is a leading research and professional services firm founded by wall street professionals and provides research and analysis on more than 13,000 public companies based in 65 countries around the world.

Institutional Shareholder Services has 20 years experience in proxy voting and corporate governance matters. It provides coverage of over 38,000 shareholder meetings across 100 markets and delivers corporate governance advise to help shareholders manage risk and drive value.

The Australian Council of Super Investors is a not for profit organisation that provides independent research and education services to superannuation funds, in relation to the corporate governance practices of companies in which they invest.

The Future Fund is a Federal Government agency established in 2006 to assist future Australian governments meet the cost of public sector superannuation liabilities and has a current balance of approximately $A60 billion. It is also the largest holder of Telstra stock with over two billion shares or 16.5 per cent.

Despite the depth of experience and knowledge of these advisers, Mr Mc Gauchie said none has sufficient expertise to advise their clients and all have “very, very limited experience in remuneration.”

Joining in the collective corporate spit was Telstra Australia’s chairman of its remuneration committee Charles Macek who said, “we have to recognise that the people who are advising institutions, the proxy groups, have no expertise whatsoever.

“They would not have a single person on their payroll that has any commercial experience in terms of remuneration.”

The remuneration proposal would have awarded 118 million share options to 260 senior Telstra Australia executives for achieving targeted benchmarks, including an 11.5 per cent nett growth over the next three years.

It is understood the advisory firms were particularly alarmed at the proposal to award Mr Trujillo a short-term incentive of $A5.2 million.

Last financial year Mr Trujillo pocketed a salary of almost $A12 million, a $A3 million increase on his first year in the job, and concern was held that the proposed incentive is more than double that of his industry peers.

In defence of the report, Mr McGauchie said shareholders would be well served by a remuneration plan designed to drive Telstra Australia’s five-year turnaround strategy.

However, Stephen Matthews, deputy chairman of the Australian Shareholders Association, said Telstra Australia faced damage to its reputation if it did not address the concerns. The board should seriously consider the transparency of the remuneration report.

ENDS:
© John Le Fevre, 2007

Internet powers $4 m Cascade promotion

A still image from the eye-catching Cascade Brewery "The Natural Order" advertising campaign.

Australia’s oldest brewery has used the internet as the media of choice to spearhead a new $4 million advertising campaign to promote its range of premium beers.

Launching a major advertising campaign on the internet is an unusual and bold step that highlights the ability the medium has for reaching targeted consumer groups.

Ben Summons, group marketing manager premium beer, said Cascade had decided to spearhead the campaign with an internet launch because its target consumers spend a lot of time online at work and home.

“The internet is an excellent vehicle for building word of mouth around the idea.  If people like the ad they will pass it on to friends as a recommendation.”

“Fosters has been allocating more dollars in the marketing mix to online in recent years.  While the total online dollar investment is still small compared to traditional advertising mediums, it is certainly growing and will likely continue to do so.”

The innovative Cascade “The Natural Order” campaign features human actors with computer generated animal heads in an urban environment and combines the forthcoming 60-second television commercial with an entertaining interactive internet website.

The multi-media website features downloads of the characters from the slick film noir style television commercial that can be used as avatars in chat programs, wallpaper for social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook, and online games.

Cascade has also created MySpace and Facebook pages for the characters used in the commercial allowing people to interact further with the campaign.

Graphics files in a range of sizes from 800×600 to 1680×1050 can also be downloaded and used as desktop backgrounds on PCs or Mac’s.

Mr Summons said development of the website provides a rich environment to explode the brand idea and allow consumers to interact with the brand.

The unique campaign is centred around a cool-mannered urbanised Tasmanian tiger who beats a similarly urbanised chimpanzee and his sleazy cohorts cheating at a game of poker in the back room of a neighbourhood bar.

The slick 60-second commercial was produced in New Zealand by BADJAR Ogilvy and took five months to make.

The production utilises the talents of Academy Award winning director of photography John Seal, as well as a team of six mask-makers and computer generated imagery to add life to the 18 different characters in the ad.

The advertising campaign is a strategic change of direction by Cascade, which in the past has focused its attention on promoting the purity of the water and ingredients used in it’s beers, as well as its traditional brewing methods.

According to Mr Summons, “drinkers have long recognised the Cascade range of beers for their superb quality and heritage.

“We needed to take the next step and engage not only their minds, but their hearts as well by bringing the tiger to life with loads of personality and in an engaging way.”

In maintaining its responsible consumption of alcohol policy the online promotion liberally displays the “enjoy responsibly” message, while people wishing to visit the site must signify they are over 18-years-old by entering their birth date.

The website caters for PC and Macintosh users, while the streamed commercial is available for users with dialup, medium broadband or high speed broadband connections.

While the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was listed as extinct by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1986 the snappy campaign by Cascade is sure to fuel renewed interest in the hapless marsupial which was hunted out of existence as a result of private and government sponsored bounty schemes between 1830 and 1909.

The television launch of the campaign will be seen across Australia at 8.30pm on Sunday during episodes of CSI and Criminal Minds. For those who wish to view the ad and download the cool graphics used in it the website is located at http://www.thenaturalorder.com.au/tvad/

Cascade Premium is ranked number sixth in volume sales in the Australian premium beer market while Cascade’s parent company, Foster’s Group, is ranked number one in volume sales and value of sales in the Australian premium beer market.

ENDS:
© John Le Fevre, 2007

Download your own character icons, wallpapers and screensavers from: http://www.thenaturalorder.com.au