Whaling: Right or Wrong?

[Eagle-scuba]

man is just a bacteria on this planet, some are healthy for the body, and others destroy it, the few bad will someday destroy it all for future generation to come, thus destroying themselves......sad but inevitable.....enjoy what we have today, respect all that lives, and pray that we survive another day.....

 

[mdb]

there never going to be a end to this thread unless people will stop eating animals.

You've got it Captain CaveMan.

 

[mdb]

Lol no we don't. Are you saying cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens exist in numbers that are at risk by consumption?
Chris

Tell that to the cows and chickens.

 

[Mr.X]

You see, here is a presumption based on a complete falsehood. The simple fact is that they DO do scientific research on the whale they catch. After they have got what they need for that the rest of the whale is given to market so as not to waste it. Just because you think that is a lie doesn't make it so - and it's also very presumptious to think that everyone agrees with you - they don't.
It's clear in my mind that they simply don't catch enough whales to 'stock shelves'.

It's exactly the facts behind this stuff the Japanese are trying to get to the bottom of. And guess what - it's science.

OK - you don't like the Japanese eating whale. That's fine, but don't try to use spurious untrue claims to try to say that they should be ashamed of themselves when all it really amounts to are personal feelings held by people who are trying to justify foisting them off on to others.

Whatever science gained from these studies is quite minimal. Killing a pressured species does little to advance knowledge about why their numbers are decreasing. This is reverse logic.

Additionally, most folks know that the IWC is a total sham too. Japan always votes for whaling to recoup money invested in their boats. It’s been that way since my early days in Greenpeace when my job was to convince the Japanese of viable alternatives. It never went to far and I was threatened with a beating once.

I also think it wouldn’t hurt the Japanese to be a little bit more introspective when it comes to understanding that Kujira is a pressured animal and that there is evidence which supports the fact that we may be dealing with a possible sentient life form.

I know that the historical roots of Japan and the sea are linked, however giving up a small meal of Kujira is not a biggie for anyone shopping for meat at the local grocery.

 

[rjack321]

There have been alot of arguements that X number of Minkes is sustainable (without any actual evidence I might add). But a really burning issue is that Japan trades and hunts many species other than Minkes, without a self-issued "scientific" permit, no documentation, zero oversight, zilch.

DNA analysis of whale meat in Japanese markets demonstrated this many years ago.
e.g. "Which Whales are Hunted? A Molecular Approach to Monitoring Whaling. 1994 Science 265:1538-1539."

Japan fought independent DNA monitoring of their hunts for years, many outside researchers have to sneak their equipment in or the samples out.

The legitimate use of natural resources is obviously culturally debatable,

but deceit, lying and poaching are unacceptable in any culture.

 

[Kim]

Whatever science gained from these studies is quite minimal. Killing a pressured species does little to advance knowledge about why their numbers are decreasing. This is reverse logic.

Additionally, most folks know that the IWC is a total sham too. Japan always votes for whaling to recoup money invested in their boats. It’s been that way since my early days in Greenpeace when my job was to convince the Japanese of viable alternatives. It never went to far and I was threatened with a beating once.

I also think it wouldn’t hurt the Japanese to be a little bit more introspective when it comes to understanding that Kujira is a pressured animal and that there is evidence which supports the fact that we may be dealing with a possible sentient life form.

I know that the historical roots of Japan and the sea are linked, however giving up a small meal of Kujira is not a biggie for anyone shopping for meat at the local grocery.

So what do you think is responsible for the most decline in the Minke numbers - global warming or whaling? It seems to me to be getting things completely out of perspective to compare the thousand or so taken by whaling with the 100s of thousand thought to have died because of the decline of krill. I would have thought that Greenpeace would have bigger fish to fry with much larger global issues than a small number of whale that amounts to a fraction of a percent of total stocks. FWIW most Japanese have already been forced to give up Kujira because it's simply not for sale most places. That they occasionally get a treat of something they love is no biggie for me.

 

[Kim]

but deceit, lying and poaching are unacceptable in any culture.

Japan certainly doesn't have a monopoly on that - especially the deceit and lying. Maybe I should start a thread called 'America's shame', or 'Australia's shame', or '<insert any country here>'s shame'.
I agree that it shouldn't happen. It's completely naive to think that it doesn't, or only a few people protect their vested interests in this way.

 

[gangrel441]

Lol no we don't. Are you saying cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens exist in numbers that are at risk by consumption? It's not true if you are.

You're right. We're not hunting cows to extinction. We are just breeding enough of them that their flatulence is the single largest contributor to the global warming phenomenon, which in turn is causing the krill populations to fall, and therefore causing the (earlier alleged) fall in the population of Minke whales. Or maybe it's the 2,200 whales a year that are being harvested. Hmmmm....

 

[Mr.X]

So what do you think is responsible for the most decline in the Minke numbers - global warming or whaling? It seems to me to be getting things completely out of perspective to compare the thousand or so taken by whaling with the 100s of thousand thought to have died because of the decline of krill. I would have thought that Greenpeace would have bigger fish to fry with much larger global issues than a small number of whale that amounts to a fraction of a percent of total stocks. FWIW most Japanese have already been forced to give up Kujira because it's simply not for sale most places. That they occasionally get a treat of something they love is no biggie for me.

Rhetorical questions really do not go anwhere. Neither does hunting Minke whale and then selling the meat.

I know the culture well and can say that most Japanese do not think twice about where their seafood came from and how it was caught. It would do the Japanese some good to understand (or at least try to) that their island nation is a part of a whole global community and that their perspective towards stressed sea stocks is not shared by all.

 

[drbill]

I know the culture well and can say that most <Japanese) do not think twice about where their seafood came from and how it was caught. It would do the Japanese some good to understand (or at least try to) that their island nation is a part of a whole global community and that their perspective towards stressed sea stocks is not shared by all.

One could insert <United States residents> in this statement almost as easily. Note I didn't say "Americans" although it is probably true of those who live in urban environs.

As I tried to say earlier, while the Japanese may deserve criticism for their whaling activities, there are many other (most?) countries including the United States that are equally deserving. This does not apologize for, or justify the behavior of the Japanese. What it does say is something to the effect of "those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!"