Whale hunting? What the hell?

[Janko]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040723a4.htm

I don't get it. What possible benefit to the world does whaling serve?

I suppose it's technically good that countries are looking into controlling whaling practices in case it comes 'back into fashion' but it strikes me as more sensible to condemn whaling outright and to divert ALL resources to ensuring the 1986 moratorium on whaling is maintained.

 

[MarkH]

Wait for it. The anti-environmentalists should be posting soon.

 

[Charlie99]

Isn't it also about time for the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji?

I was confused the first time I ordered dolphin in Florida and they brought out some white meat.

 

[sb_diver]

Whale the other other other white meat

 

[sb_diver]

But on a more serious note.
Hey some cultures, like the eskimos still hunt whales as they have for hundreds or even thousands of years. They're eating it and using everything. In Japan they eat whale, I know to us it sounds cruel and that whales are smart and such but I'm sure a hindu would be appalled we eat beef. Its a cultural thing.
Now with that out, I do think its important that we limit if not restrict hunting till those slow reproducing whales can increase in numbers otherwise there are going to be no more left.

Thomas

 

[erichK]

But on a more serious note.
Hey some cultures, like the eskimos still hunt whales as they have for hundreds or even thousands of years. They're eating it and using everything. In Japan they eat whale, I know to us it sounds cruel and that whales are smart and such but I'm sure a hindu would be appalled we eat beef. Its a cultural thing.
Now with that out, I do think its important that we limit if not restrict hunting till those slow reproducing whales can increase in numbers otherwise there are going to be no more left.

Thomas

Cannibalism, infanticide. torture, female "circumscision" and much else were also "a cultural thing". So is/was the consumption of the brain of living monkeys. Beef has been domesticated (and bred for docility and stupidity) for thousands of years. While we, and the cattle and the environment would all be much better off if we ate much less of it, the fact that we gorge ourselves on unhealthy quantities of animals we raise for slaughter in no way justifies the obscenity of hounding and slowly murdering intelligent, sociable and above all, harmless-to-us creatures. How can you justify the slaughter of creatures that have, despite ample opportunity and easy means, virtually no record of ever harming humans? (except to occasionally signal that they've had enough).

It would be wise for those of us who buy Japanese products to indicate their disagreement with Japan's whaling policies.

 

[Janko]

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy the cultural argument either. Yes, a Hindu may be upset that I eat beef, but cows are not endangered, don't take many years to reach breeding age, etc. Inuit cultures may have a better argument for whaling (but not by much) because the whales are historically imperative to many of their lifestyles. However, the survival of the species overrides any cultural claim we may have to the animal in question, whatever it may be.

We don't condone the market of tiger skins, or elephant tusks for the same reasons we imposed a moratorium on commerical whaling - just as whales start to make a comeback, it is imprudent to make a move toward accepting a return of hunting practices. Equally imprudent is a move toward showing the world that many of us are not vehemently opposed to those practices.

 

[jiveturkey]

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy the cultural argument either. Yes, a Hindu may be upset that I eat beef, but cows are not endangered, don't take many years to reach breeding age, etc. Inuit cultures may have a better argument for whaling (but not by much) because the whales are historically imperative to many of their lifestyles. However, the survival of the species overrides any cultural claim we may have to the animal in question, whatever it may be.

We don't condone the market of tiger skins, or elephant tusks for the same reasons we imposed a moratorium on commerical whaling - just as whales start to make a comeback, it is imprudent to make a move toward accepting a return of hunting practices. Equally imprudent is a move toward showing the world that many of us are not vehemently opposed to those practices.

mmm...This used to get me really angry too until I found out that the Japanese Antarctic fishery preys on a minke whale population of 100,000. They take about 1500 a year and at that rate, the fishery is quite sustainable. As things stand, with this level of fishing, these whales will continue to have a healthy population. I don't really agree with the hunt either but endangerment is not an arguement in the case of the antarctic minke whales.

 

[Charlie99]

mmm...This used to get me really angry too until I found out that the Japanese Antarctic fishery preys on a minke whale population of 100,000. They take about 1500 a year and at that rate, the fishery is quite sustainable. As things stand, with this level of fishing, these whales will continue to have a healthy population. I don't really agree with the hunt either but endangerment is not an arguement in the case of the antarctic minke whales.

Don't confuse us with facts!

 

[Janko]

mmm...This used to get me really angry too until I found out that the Japanese Antarctic fishery preys on a minke whale population of 100,000. They take about 1500 a year and at that rate, the fishery is quite sustainable. As things stand, with this level of fishing, these whales will continue to have a healthy population. I don't really agree with the hunt either but endangerment is not an arguement in the case of the antarctic minke whales.

Yeah, makes sense - but as I understand it, Minke whaling in Japan is also covered by the 86 moratorium, and they are exercising a very small quota, much like Norway, Korea and many other countries that also engage in whaling. My concern is agreements that move closer to weakening or condoning the abolition of the moratorium.