It's a whale of a time - Should Japan be allowed?

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slim6y

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News Article:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21812446-953,00.html

THERE are enough whales in the ocean for Australians to enjoy whale-watching and Japan to hunt them with explosive harpoons.

That's the argument Japan will take to an international meeting this morning which will ask nations to vote on whether or not to overturn a 21-year-old ban on commercial whaling.
In a detailed brief, Japan's whaling delegate Joji Mori****a argues that if it's good enough for Australians to farm cows for steak, then it's acceptable for Japan to butcher the gentle sea creatures for whale sushi.

"There are enough whales for those who want to watch them and for those who want to eat them," Mr Mori****a says in the nine-page brief.

"The situation is not different from a farm tour with a barbecue lunch."

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull is in Anchorage, Alaska, with 70 environment ministers from around the world for the annual International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting which begins this morning (AEST).

Mr Turnbull and his counterparts from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Brazil will lead a coalition of anti-whaling nations to stop Japan from winning the vote to overturn the ban on commercial whaling.

Japan needs a 75 per cent majority to overturn it, but The Daily Telegraph understands pro-whaling countries don't even have a simple majority.

This would deliver another huge blow to Japan, but won't stop it extending its scientific whale hunt which later this year will include humpbacks.

Mr Mori****a said Australia's whale sanctuary in the Antarctic had no legal standing in international law, "and therefore no effect".

He said Japan had to extend its whale hunt to include the threatened humpbacks and endangered fin whales because their populations were increasing rapidly.

This year Japan will slaughter 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpbacks.

"Sample sizes have been calculated as the minimum number required to obtain statistically significant data and will not have any detrimental effect on the stocks," Mr Mori****a said.

"This is similar to doing public opinion polls – you dont ask everyone in the entire population for their view but you need to ask more than one person."

Mr Mori****a rejected claims Japan's slaughter methods were inhumane.

"In fact, a large proportion of the whales taken are killed instantly by an explosive harpoon and for those cases when they are not, a secondary killing method (a second harpoon or high caliber rifle) ensures that the time to death is as rapid as possible," he said.

Conservation groups said this was a crucial week for whales.

"The best whale science in the 21st century involves studying live whales in their ocean habitats, not slaughtering them for cans of whale meat," head of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's global whale campaign, Patrick Ramage, said.

The IWC meeting will run all week.
 
Intersting aye?

Notice how unbiased this editorial is? The 'gentle giants of the sea'. That doesn't suggest anything.

It's funny because there are many gentle giants of the sea that we currently eat too.

If there is enough whale to go round, what's wrong with them using it?

It makes me sick - firstly with misleading print and secondly that the world says no but Japan just finds ways around it.

Sounds very US and invading style to me!

The same ol same ol story here will go down to how cruel our slaughter houses are and how silly the idea of whaling is...

Japan is being targetted here - what about Norway? What about the others?

Anyhow - leave your comments - I know it's been commented on before - so keep RACISM out of it - it's not all Japan...

Keep your comments about people's opinions to the opinions and not the people who make them!
 
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I put forward a motion to begin hunting whaling boats with explosive harpoons for scientific research purposes, fairs fair :lol:
 
Yeah I think this is pretty stupid, I mean most people in Australia eat meat, we slaughter cattle etc so why is slaughtering whales any different?
I mean if I had my way, no animals would be killed for food but thats unrealistic so where do you draw the line between what is food and what is "protected"?
 
I was thinking about this yesterday - Australia, NZ, PNG, Fiji, Kiribati, Tahiti, Ecuador, Chile, all the South Pacific nations should form one governmental consortium and draw a line at, say, the equator. The consortium should then state that the South pacific is our and there will be no whaling in the Pacific south of the equator - any Japanese whaling ships found will be seized (like Indonesian fishing boats in Australian waters) and destroyed - the crew fined an repatriated to Japan.

:p

Hix
 
I was thinking about this yesterday - Australia, NZ, PNG, Fiji, Kiribati, Tahiti, Ecuador, Chile, all the South Pacific nations should form one governmental consortium and draw a line at, say, the equator. The consortium should then state that the South pacific is our and there will be no whaling in the Pacific south of the equator - any Japanese whaling ships found will be seized (like Indonesian fishing boats in Australian waters) and destroyed - the crew fined an repatriated to Japan.

:p

Hix

Interesting... I like it a lot... It's almost APEC except SAPEC :)

Good idea Hix... HIX FOR PRESIDENT OF SAPEC!!!
 
Well said Hix. My 2 cents;

We draw the line now. Many species have been brought to the brink of extinction because of whaling - i think thats enough proof and logic to stop. I think its totally digusting and i dont support it at all. There is a difference between a salmon and a whale. They should all be protected (whales). They are beautiful giants of the sea, we swim with then, watch them, study them. How many more whales need to become extinct or endangered for them to realise the errors theyre making! If the japanese sat down and actually thought about it instead of their stomachs, they would realise that tourism in whale watching would bring in a far greater income than whaling (i.e Australia).
 
Yeah I think this is pretty stupid, I mean most people in Australia eat meat, we slaughter cattle etc so why is slaughtering whales any different?
I mean if I had my way, no animals would be killed for food but thats unrealistic so where do you draw the line between what is food and what is "protected"?

Cattle isn't facing a very real risk of extinction.
 
I mean if I had my way, no animals would be killed for food but thats unrealistic

Well.......its well on the way of being true!
There has been extensive research into 'vegetarian' meat!

Scientists have been growing muscular tissue in the laboratory....completely animal free :D
(cant find article)

And yeah go hixy! top idea!
 
Well said Hix. My 2 cents;

We draw the line now. Many species have been brought to the brink of extinction because of whaling - i think thats enough proof and logic to stop. I think its totally digusting and i dont support it at all. There is a difference between a salmon and a whale. They should all be protected (whales). They are beautiful giants of the sea, we swim with then, watch them, study them. How many more whales need to become extinct or endangered for them to realise the errors theyre making! If the japanese sat down and actually thought about it instead of their stomachs, they would realise that tourism in whale watching would bring in a far greater income than whaling (i.e Australia).

Are you sure? what whales are nearly extinct because of hunting. The Japanese scientist seem to have proof that you're wrong and there's plenty of other whales in the sea (so to speak).

The difference between a salmon and a whale is.... I assume you're considering it to be mammal vs non-mammal - if that's your argument then what is a cow?

I find cows are gentle and giants - maybe not beautiful, but is that a reason to eat them?

I doubt tourism of their whales would be profitable - don't you actually need whales to have this tourism? Maybe they can make mechanical ones.

So sorry celly, I agree with your comments - I'm just wondering if they're a little misguided.

We can't all be "happy feet' and because it's cute save it. I tend to agree with Kelly on this one... where is the line?

I love whales just like we all do here - but I also love sharks - who's out there protecting them? Is there a consortium of world nations protecting them?

They're not gentle but they're giants!

Anyhow... if the japanese are right, and there's enough whales to go round, what's wrong with killing the odd few for a sushi roll?

Is it the method you don't like? Or is it the suffering the animal goes through, and how their calfs can't survive on their own and become killer whale food?
 
There is nothing wrong with commercial whaling as long as it is sustainable.

Now for my controversial statement. I honestly beleive that eating a wild animal can be far less cruel than eating farmed animals. They will have potentially lived a completely natural life with everthing they need up to that point they get killed. And i beleive that they would have been 'happy' (if animals feel such emtions) in there life. Which is alot more that i think can be said about most farmed animals.
 
I am against even a single whale being hunted for food or 'scientific purposes', what should be remembered is that whaling only stopped in this country in 1978. I think in 2007 it shouldn't happen especially as apparently whale meat is fairly unpopular in Japan anyway.
 
Yes protected - but is their a consortium of nations protecting them?

And is the protection being enforced? From what i have seen in my days fishing most large sharks drown while being caught, the only thing the protection can realistically do is stop people harvesting them. Not catching them and inadvertantly killing them.
 
So - how about a World Heritage Area in the South Pacific - protecting the whales and the fish... A World Heritage area in this part of the world would be very effective in protecting many species.

Allowing Japan to whale in their economic zone as they already have done.
 
The problem is whales travel all around the world, all the oceans need to be protected.
 
I think the biggest problem is that the japanese whalers don't always follow the rules and whale for species that they don't have permission to catch and in waters they are not allowed to hunt in.
 
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