Japan Whaling Conspiracy Theory?

[jagfish]

Japan Whaling Conspiracy Theory?
In discussions with industry contacts in Japan, I heard it alleged that a major reason the country is retaining its whaling practice is to distract attention away from other marine resource issues. It was surmised that the continuation of the very contentious whaling practice is a very effective way to keep attention away from marine resource depletion issues that would have arguably more dire consequences to human food resources and economics.

I have no way to confirm the veracity of this contention, but when I first heard this idea, it made sense.

 

[lowwall]

IMO, the standard explanation makes more sense. Supporting whaling is virtue signaling for Japanese nationalists. The fact that it makes no economic sense and is nearly universally reviled is immaterial. Exactly like certain US politicians' attempts to prop up coal-fired electricity generation.

 

[OTF]

The coal-fired electricity thing is much more about corporations with vested interest lobbying and making campaign donations than nationalism. Though our bought politicians do use the nationalism and jobs angle to sell it. The whaling thing could be similar, or not. There are corporations getting rich off coal. Curious to know if anyone really is making big whale money in Japan.

This thread should go well.

 

[lowwall]

Nationalism is always used as cover for power or money grabs.

Curious to know if anyone really is making big whale money in Japan.

Nope. It's pure political posturing.

From Reuters, "Roughly 300 people are directly involved in whaling. Demand for whale has been stagnant for more than a decade at roughly 5,000 tonnes annually. That breaks down to roughly 40 grams per person a year."

From a 2019 Al-Jazeera article, "The research whaling programme lost money for years – 1.6 billion yen ($15m) in the last year alone."

 

[jagfish]

Nationalism is always used as cover for power or money grabs.

Nope. It's pure political posturing.

From Reuters, "Roughly 300 people are directly involved in whaling. Demand for whale has been stagnant for more than a decade at roughly 5,000 tonnes annually. That breaks down to roughly 40 grams per person a year."

From a 2019 Al-Jazeera article, "The research whaling programme lost money for years – 1.6 billion yen ($15m) in the last year alone."

I didn't know it was that few ppl directly involved in the whaling indistry.

 

[lowwall]

I didn't know it was that few ppl directly involved in the whaling indistry.

Only five ships. Maximum catch around 400 whales per year since 2018 although they haven't caught the limit yet because demand is extremely low for whale meat. And since their "research" whaling was found to be illegal, they can only hunt within their territorial waters.

BBC: Japan whaling: Why commercial hunts have resumed despite outcry

Kyodonews: Japan sets whaling catch limit for 2021 at 383, same as 2020

Animal Welfare Institute (not sure who these folks are, but they have actual numbers): Japanese Whaling

 

[lermontov]

its all hypocritical really, if governments wanted to they could refuse to trade with japan on items such as fish quotas or the like but it's simply economy of scale, with trades worth multiple millions whats a few whales