Does This Piss Anyone Off As Much As I? (NRR)
The_Non
5,691 Posts
WTF. Don't say that killing whales is for "research." They've known whale migratory patterns for centuries AND if they wanted to know changes in patterns, they could, uh, OBSERVE THEM. Fucking cocksuckers. I need to grab that book The Philosophy of Bullshit because it's coming out of everyone's mouth every fucking day. From Yahoo:By HANS GREIMEL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 10 minutes ago TOKYO - A fleet of Japanese whaling ships left for the seas of Antarctica amid protests Tuesday, aiming to kill 850 minke whales ??? almost double last year's catch ??? and expand the hunt to fin whales for the first time. ADVERTISEMENT The expedition is the first under a six-year research whaling program launched earlier this year by the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research, fisheries ministry official Kenji Masuda said. Japan wrapped up an 18-year study of feeding and migratory habits in March, when the fleet returned from an Antarctic hunt with a haul of 440 minke.Their meat was sold to restaurants and food wholesalers.Greenpeace International called on Japan to cancel the latest hunt, calling it commercial whaling in disguise.The hunt, which is permitted as research under the rules of the International Whaling Commission, is expected to kill 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales, a rarer species."In the last survey, we found the number of fin whales has been increasing, so we included them this time," Masuda said, adding that the fleet plans to expand the hunt again in 2007 to humpback whales. The current research program runs through 2011.Japan's research whaling program has for years been a divisive issue within the International Whaling Commission, which banned commercial whaling in 1986 but approved limited hunts for research purposes a year later.Japan maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture. It says whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 to allow the resumption of limited hunts of certain species. Research hunts, which end up killing the whales, are needed to establish reliable information on whale populations and habits, the government maintains.Opponents say non-lethal means could be used and that the hunts differ little from commercial whaling because Japan sells the whale meat to restaurants. Last spring's catch yielded 4.16 million pounds of meat and fetched $26.5 million, Masuda said.The proceeds fund further research, the government says.New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter issued a statement Tuesday expressing alarm about Japan's expanded whale hunt, saying his country was working with other nations to address provisions in the international convention on whaling regulations that make scientific whaling legal but "are out of step with modern conservation approaches.""Hunting whales is like hunting tigers (or) gorillas. New Zealanders regard it as unjustifiable," Carter said.The current fleet of six ships left the western port of Shimonoseki led by the 8,030 ton Nisshin Maru, and is to return in mid-April.Tokyo has repeatedly failed to muster the three-fourths majority of International Whaling Commission member nations needed to overturn the commercial whaling ban. Each year, Japan also kills another 210 whales ??? 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales ??? during a similar research expedition in the northwestern Pacific.Norway is the only country that hunts whales for profit. Iceland, like Japan, kills them for research in hunts sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission. The United States and other nations opposed to whaling have said there is no scientific basis for the research.
Comments
Seriously though, research? are you fuckin kidding me?
Of course the "research" claims are total bullshit.
You can often times find it on the menu here, although I never order it.
I went to a sushi place last winter that had whale-heart.
awesome. did it give you magical whale powers? can you eat tonnes of krill by opening your fucked up mouth and swimming at the time? Did they bring the heart out on a flatbed truck?
sidenote: i dont think they are hiding the fact that it is not for research. i guess they are, but really they arent
Why do people insist on eating endangered species?
Why do people insist on eating ANY species???
The minke whales aren't even close to extinction. The last time it was checked it was put in the Low Risk / Near Threatened[/b] category. That being said, the Japanese are headed for Antarctica. To quote Wikipedia:
Recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 180,000 in the central and North East Atlantic and 700,000 around Antarctica.
Now that aint extinction. WhaleStrut.
better qualify that with "animal" species. if we didn't eat ANY species we wouldn't live very long.
I'm not going to stand up for the raerity of Minkes because I knew they weren't raer. There are quite a few problems with this story:
1) It disrupts the food chain in the areas they whale in.
2) They're also killing Sei and Sperm whales. Sperm whales are raer!
3) Just fishing in the Antarctic area is disruptive. It is unnecessary and can damage the local ecosystem.
4) You don't research homicide by killing people. Just an analogy.
But maybe they should.
Here's why I think Japan and Norway should be able to whale:
The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) admits that whaling can be done at sustainable levels by pro whaling countries such as Japan and Norway.
The IWC's ban on whaling was only meant to be temporary in order to study the impact of whaling upon whaling numbers. The continutaion of a ban on whaling is ongoing even through the purpose for the temporary ban has been achieved.
The mandate of the IWC was to regulate the whaling industry not to ban whaling so its purpose has been hijacked by anti whaling countries.
Even the United States is allowed to whale under the aboriginal subsistence exemption (this exemption even allows for the hunting of endangered whales, while Japan and Norway don't want to hunt endangered whales). The cultural importance of whale meat in traditional fishing areas of Norway and Japan is somewhat analogous to the cultural connection that aboriginal communities have to whales as a source of food, to allow one and not the other has been seen by many as a form of cultural imperialism.
The ban on whaling hasnt stopped countries like Japan from whaling (Japan claims it needs to hunt whales to study their impact on fish in Japanese waters).
Since this is international law and there is no coercive force (even the United States wouldn't invade a country over whaling...would they?) you have two options either allow a limited reutn to commercial whaling regulated by the IWC with a strict control on sustainable whaling (it's not like the rest of the world is all of a sudden going to want to hunt whale) or prepare for countries like Japan and Norway to withdraw from the IWC and hunt whales in a more unregulated manner which may do more harm to whale numbers.
I agree its sneaky the way Japan hunts whales under the scientific exemption of the IWC charter, but its also sneaky that anti whaling countries are using the IWC to promote a continued ban on whaling when that was never the purpose of this international organisation.
Peace!
Yo Teenwolf, man, I hear just the opposite from people. Japanese people have told me that it is not delicious at all... And that it was never really traditional (only in a few places) to hunt and eat whale. It was wide-spread during the war, so for some old fuckers it's a little natsukashii.
But fuck that. Unless youre a dude with a harpoon, feeding his family for a year on that shit, you shouldnn't be killing anything that's probably smarter than you.
Anyhow... I can't wait for the whales to show their true nature as gaurdians from outer-space, keeping the planet in check. I suppose that'll happen around 2012.
This Mimizu character.. he knows too much
Hahahaa, werd. I have to come clean here and admit I've tried it twice. Once raw (kujira-sashimi) when my ex-girl's dad took us out to dinner and wanted to, I dunno, shock me or something. It was good. The other time years back a friend ordered some fried whale bacon at an izakaya. I tried a piece, and man, don't go nutzoid on me here, but it was fantasteak.
Buttery, melty, like super good steak.
Of course I hope it was Minke or some whale that's not in trouble, and like I said, I don't order the stuff...but I had to try it.
James1ski thanks for the good info.
A few months back my other exgirl went shopping for dinner. I said "yeah, fish sounds good" and she came back with fucking shark steaks!