Whaling: Right or Wrong?

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Scubaroo

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Photo taken in the last 24 hours in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary by Greenpeace. Two harpooned minke whales being dragged aboard a Japanese "research" vessel, destined for the restaurants and school cafeterias of Japan.

greenpeace-ship-my-esperanza-w.jpg


The video link on the following page is very graphic. The animal in the video is clearly being quickly and efficiently "processed" like a cow in an open-air abbotair. There is NOTHING scientific about slaughtering a whale on the back of a ship for meat.

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/photo-audio-video/videos/whale-action-on-the-southern-2

I happily eat red meat (and on occasion hunt and dress my own), but this video is simply sickening. Whales ain't cows.
 
Of course my own country has plenty of shame for its early years of harvesting many whale species to the point of near extinction.

Interesting how that slaughter was largely to render them to produce oil before the days when petroleum became the primary energy source. Our current petroleum industry (fueled by our insatiable demand I should add) is driving (pun intended) the extinction of countless species due to the effects of large-scale petroleum extraction and use.

I am no apologist for the slaughter of these whales by Japan, but at least they will go for food (er, I mean "scientific studies") rather than to fuel an inefficient energy-based economy. Can't understand how it could be cost-effective to use a large vessel like the one in the picture to capture a few whales.
 
drbill:
Can't understand how it could be cost-effective to use a large vessel like the one in the picture to capture a few whales.
If they were only capturing a few whales, it wouldn't be. They're capturing lots of whales.
 
Scubaroo:
An interesting article on the company structures involved in the Japanese whaling industry. The US frozen seafood company Gortons is in effect wholly owned by a company with a 31.9% stake in the Japanese whaling fleet.

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/our-oceans/whaling/gortons


Thanks for the link above. I will be in Gloucester shortly and can throw my disgusts at a company that supports the killing of whales. I also feel bad for the wonderful folks who live in Gloucester who have to now put up with a company that has it's hands stained in blood and is owned by a company who probably gives a @&#t.

Having been a Greenpeacer years ago I can easily say that the Japanese do not get it, nor want to get it. Their investment in protecting the oceans seemed quite minimal at the time. As a culture, towing the line is ingrained to a certain degree.
 
I am pretty sure I saw whale slaughter boats in Reykjavik last summer too.....(Iceland)
 
I bet they tast good. at least there being used as food. people been doing it for hundreds of years and the whales are still here.
 
Eating whales can't be healthy. Killer Whales were recently bumped to the number one spot for the most contaminated animals in the Artic.

A little hunting won't hurt whale populations overall, right?
 
over in asia they eat cat and dog( hay if thats what they like its ok by me). hell i dont think a little whale will hurt them. we eat pigs-(hogs). did anyone ever see a pig farm???? if most of you did you would fight that too. I understand why some culters dont eat hoved animals. but like my sig say "they tast good"
 
Captain CaveMan:
I bet they tast good. at least there being used as food. people been doing it for hundreds of years and the whales are still here.

Lord, there's always one. There are a tiny miniscule fraction of the number of whales there once were, thanks directly to overharvest.

I find it disgusting that Japan hunts whales under the guise of research. We're talking about an environmental cause that even Americans can get behind...a rare thing indeed.

What's so very necessary about eating whale in Japanese culture? They are never willing to budge an inch on this issue. Why can't they eat cow/pig/sheep/goat/deer/llama/etc, etc, etc? Why does it HAVE to be whale? Can anyone explain to me why a culture can't change its eating habits to save some of the worlds' most majestic and endangered creatures??

Gregg
 

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