Japan's whaling fleet sets sail

[dlndavid]

Japan's whaling fleet has set sail for Antarctic waters where it will make its biggest catch in 20 years.

The boats will aim to catch nearly 1,000 whales over the coming months.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4417462.stm

How could anybody kill such beautiful creatures under the guise of scientific research:06:

 

[archman]

yeah, that's a lot of whales. Oh well, at least minkes aren't rare.

 

[Oceandvr]

Anyone know if they actually publish the "scientific" data or is this just a ruse? Seems as senseless as shark finning to me.

 

[Kim]

Anyone know if they actually publish the "scientific" data or is this just a ruse? Seems as senseless as shark finning to me.

That's a bit far fetched. There are no wasted parts of a whale that the Japanese discard - only taking a sharks fins and throwing the rest back to die is rather different.

As far as why they do it. It's their culture, like Norway and some Alaskan peoples. There are a lot of very steep mountains in Japan - so land for animals is very scarce. Most meat has to be imported, consequently they eat a lot of things from the sea. That's one thing they always had a lot of.

 

[archman]

Anyone know if they actually publish the "scientific" data or is this just a ruse? Seems as senseless as shark finning to me.

No, it's good data. They just seem to never be satisfied with sample size.

You see their data every once in a while. A lot of it stays untranslated in Japanese journals. The data is good, but not usually anything new or noteworthy.

I think the dietary preferences of minke whales are now the most exhaustively researched for any cetacean.

 

[fishb0y]

How could anybody kill such beautiful creatures under the guise of scientific research:06:

But it's OK to eat ugly animals? As long as the hunting is regulated and the population can support it, whats wrong with it?

My Japanese wife says she still remembers the taste from when she was young, and really looks forward to it again some day...

this is the point where I am now mocked and questioned on the authenticity (sp?) of my Japanese wife...:krach:

 

[Miami_Diver]

whenever there is an antienviromental problem with pollution or endangered species abuse it seems Japan is always in the middle of it.

 

[dlndavid]

They are subverting the moretorium, more and more consumables are being farm raised.
Try farm raising whales to eat.

 

[Kim]

whenever there is an antienviromental problem with pollution or endangered species abuse it seems Japan is always in the middle of it.

That's an interesting perspective. Would you have any actual facts to back it up? There are not many areas of Japans' coastline that have the same problems as the Gulf. I don't believe they have had much to do with the situation in the North Atlantic and North Sea fisheries either. Australian boats don't chase Japanese fishing boats across 7000 miles of the worlds oceans and catch them with tons of illegal fish onboard.
I'm not saying that Japan is completely innocent, they are not. There have been cases of bad pollution that have resulted in criminal prosecutions in certain places. I believe that's true to say of the US as well as many other countries around the world. Japan leads the world in fish farming technology though. Anti-pollution laws are very strict (my wife is an Environmental officer in local government). They need their coastal waters to stay clean. They rely on those for the farming, seaweed, and general fishing that is so important to this country.

It's always interesting to see people attack Japan over these issues while their own countries are just as guilty, often more so, of exactly the same sort of practices. Kyoto is in Japan and with all the weaknesses of the treaty made there regarding pollution it's not Japan dragging it's feet over trying to do something about the worlds pollution problems...or denying that they are really as bad as most people think - on the basis that it's 'bad for business' to try to change anything. I wonder how the people in Alaska are going to feel when they start extracting the oil out of up to now protected areas, screwing up the local environment for a really short term benefit?

 

[Kim]

They are subverting the moretorium, more and more consumables are being farm raised.
Try farm raising whales to eat.

They probably are. The moretorium was put in place when there was a serious danger to whale populations as a result of a couple of hundred years of unregulated whale fishing by a great number of nations around the world. As Archman pointed out earlier - at least with the Minke whale this is no longer the case. The populations are now quite healthy.