Japanese Whaling - A crock of shit
An announcement from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stirred up the pot again. Earlier in the year the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's government-subsidised whaling programme was for commercial rather than scientific purposes, leading to it being banned. Great news for whales and whale-lovers all round right? Well not anymore.
Prime Minister Abe said
"I want to aim for the resumption of commercial whaling by conducting whaling research in order to obtain scientific data indispensable for the management of whale resources."
"To that end, I will step up efforts further to get understanding from the international community."
Abe said whaling was an important activity to Japanese people, who had a great respect for the animals, and it was "regrettable that this part of Japanese culture is not understood".
Wow....unsustainable and systematic removal of whales is a highly flawed argument for obtaining data to help with the management of whale resources. Seeing as many whale species are in decline, threatened and endangered worldwide surely the most effective means of management is to leave them alone?
Not only is it condoned by many, it is also not economically viable. In 2008, the Japanese government had to invest $12 million into the Antarctic whale hunt alone to allow it to break even. Total subsidies have amounted $150 million since 1988 making it unviable and have we seen any empirical data or breakthrough scientific studies resulting from these 'scientific hunts'?No, only flawed JARPA and JARPW expeditions and highly criticised publications have resulted from the slaughter of thousands of whales.
Japan...enough is enough
