Sea Shepherd condemned by International Whaling Commission.

[wardric]

Wow Wardric, that's a really disgusting signature.

you wanna see something truly disgusting?

there ya go:

 

[Mr.X]

who's sock puppet are you btw?

Same one you're wearing on your gr____n.

 

[Kim]

Well, I guess I could see the cultural thing, to an extent.

But the economic thing makes the most sense, in today's world. But with not so much support from the people, then I would think they would give it up. And why is it subsidised? Does Japan have lobbiests similar to the US?

The economic thing is because of the moratorium. No one can just keep a fleet idle for years. The Japanese subsidise a very small fleet that conducts the "scientific research" to keep the skills etc in existence until such time as commercial whaling is allowed again. It's only about 5 boats in reality. However - they would become the core of any future commercial whaling operation.

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

It also doesn't demonstrate national behaviour. If you don't know, or don't want to believe, the facts that's your problem.

Videos are easy...... There are disgusting ones from the US showing the results of some farming methods practised there. It doesn't mean that's the standard for the entire country and all the farmers.

The government officials aren't out there doing the killing themselves but they're allowing it. I don't think that the US is much better at handling this sort of thing. I've seen the videos you speak of and they are appalling. I just want to point out that the scenes in that video are allowed and that is proof that Japan may not be the best at managing resources.

 

[wardric]

It also doesn't demonstrate national behaviour. If you don't know, or don't want to believe, the facts that's your problem.

Videos are easy...... There are disgusting ones from the US showing the results of some farming methods practised there. It doesn't mean that's the standard for the entire country and all the farmers.

good point.

 

[StevenN]

So kim, if as you say the Japanese Government just keeps a small fleet going under the guise of "Scientific Research" Then you just admitted they're lying about their reasoning.
If their own apologist feels compelled to call them liars why should we be expected to believe them?

 

[Kim]

I just want to point out that the scenes in that video are allowed and that is proof that Japan may not be the best at managing resources.

It's no proof at all of that. Your beef is with the methods involved - and they're pretty horrific. However - they aren't dissimilar to how other fish are treated on fishing boats. They are also often gutted and cleaned right away. How are tuna treated when they are caught? The Japanese simply don't see the difference between dolphins and other fish that you do.

This however has nothing to do with managing stocks for sustainability. The Japanese are very good at that. Even the dolphin hunt is strictly managed - only so many families have permits to do it, and the quotas are strictly enforced.

In point of fact though, the dolphin hunt is also under pressure internally in Japan. Most places that used to do it have stopped already. I don't think it will last much longer anyway. In point of fact one of the main reasons it persists is because of the International demand for live animals for marine parks and aquariums. A live dolphin fetches about 10 times more money than a dead one.

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

It's no proof at all of that. Your beef is with the methods involved - and they're pretty horrific. However - they aren't dissimilar to how other fish are treated on fishing boats. They are also often gutted and cleaned right away. How are tuna treated when they are caught? The Japanese simply don't see the difference between dolphins and other fish that you do.

This however has nothing to do with managing stocks for sustainability. The Japanese are very good at that. Even the dolphin hunt is strictly managed - only so many families have permits to do it, and the quotas are strictly enforced.

In point of fact though, the dolphin hunt is also under pressure internally in Japan. Most places that used to do it have stopped already. I don't think it will last much longer anyway. In point of fact one of the main reasons it persists is because of the International demand for live animals for marine parks and aquariums. A live dolphin fetches about 10 times more money than a dead one.

Well, if what you say is true about the internal pressure in Japan then that makes me feel better about it. I hope it doesn't last much longer.

There is a big difference between the immediate gutting and cleaning of fish and the long drawn out deaths of the dolphins. To slit there throats and leave them to writhe in agony or to drag them behind a truck, not even bothering to load them on the bed is atrocious.

I guess I don't know enough about sustainable resource management in Japan to continue that debate. I know more about the treatment of the animals during "harvesting" and that is what's more disturbing I guess. I need to learn a little more about resource management before continuing this discussion.

 

[Kim]

Well, if what you say is true about the internal pressure in Japan then that makes me feel better about it. I hope it doesn't last much longer.

There's a couple of things helping that. One is the contamination of dolphin meat with mercury & PCBs. This has caused a city counselor in Taiji, Junichiro Yama****a, to head up an anti-hunt group within the council. It's possible we might see some effects of that next years - however, vested and entrenched interests in Japan are notoriously hard to fight so I'm not sure how far this guy will get. A group of counselors conducted their own tests though, so they might be able to stop it on health grounds - or at least restrict it's sale, and prevent it being used in schools.

We'll see.

Oh....BTW.....that video footage was lifted from a BBC documentary that was made 5 or 6 years ago. The whole documentary has been shown on Japanese TV. I'm not sure if the treatment is still as bad as that - although the hunt has continued up until now.

 

[wardric]

I just realized something. If the dolphin meat is so much contaminated with mercury and pcb, shouldn't we worry more about the sources of that contamination? I mean, the japanese hunt might stop not because of unhealthy meat but because the dolphins become extinct due to pollutants.

Our beluga whales are protected in the St Lawrence river. Yet, they are rarer than ever because they die of such contamination. I used to be able to see many on my trips to the Saguenay region. Now, theay are rare sights