Japan and Whaling

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Don't worry; Greenpeace will sort this crap out.

All ya gotta do is sink the ships, can't be that hard.

Sounds like a job for Commander Scott Waddle.

[Drake Tungsten]

Dodo
Passenger Pigeon
Tasmanian Tiger

Can't say I miss any of them...

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Winston
I never understood what's supposed to be so special about whales. If a whale species is not under threat of extinction, go ahead and eat 'em.

That attitude worked wonders with Atlantic cod, which was destroyed by overfishing. Same goes for Halibut, Chilean Sea Bass/Patagonia Toothfish, Orange roughy, sharks, and so on.

The fact is that most whales species are endangered, but the Japanese refuse to acknowledge that basic fact.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Dodo
Passenger Pigeon
Tasmanian Tiger

Can't say I miss any of them...

The passenger pigeons are probably worth missing. Their immense flocks were said to be absolutely awe inspiring. Nothing could compare to them. not even close.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Tingkai
The fact is that most whales species are endangered, but the Japanese refuse to acknowledge that basic fact.

Exactly. As does Winston.

[Elok]

Doesn't Japan claim to whale entirely for "scientific purposes?" Whatever that means. I'm not sure what they'll learn from studying a broad sampling of dead whales that will benefit them or anyone else if, in the process of collecting the data, they drive the species they were studying extinct.

And Passenger Pigeons would indeed have been worth keeping. A measured and regulated harvest would have provided a nice, naturally-occurring food source. Easy to catch, too. Instead we managed to wipe out one of the most plentiful species ever.

[Drake Tungsten]

The passenger pigeons are probably worth missing.

Nah. Email has taken over their ecological niche.

[Drake Tungsten]

The fact is that most whales species are endangered, but the Japanese refuse to acknowledge that basic fact.

Exactly. As does Winston.

The vast majority of the whales taken by the Japanese are minke whales, which are not endangered as far as I can tell. Neither are the Bryde's whales that make up about half of the non-minke take. Sei whales, the other significant species, are endangered, but the Japanese argue that they shouldn't be anymore and only started killing them recently (none killed before 2001). Seems the Japanese are well aware of which species are endangered and which are not. Don't know about Winston...

[Tingkai]

There is no agreement about the number of minke whales. The Japanese naturally claim that there are lots of them, but the Japanese often have trouble counting numbers, like the number of people they murdered at Nanking.

From wiki:
"In the early 1990s the IWC Scientific Committee, after analysing the available data, agreed that minkes in the Southern Hemisphere numbered 760,000, which the Japanese whaling industry uses as the current (2005) estimate. In 2000, however, the Committee withdrew this advice in light of new survey data suggesting population estimates 50% lower than in the 1980s (Branch & Butterworth 2001)."

[Drake Tungsten]

Ah, bringing up Nanking in a conversation about whaling. Typical...

[DaShi]

He can't win logically. Where's UR?

[Datajack Franit]

Japanese people eat whales. Face it.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Winston
I never understood what's supposed to be so special about whales. If a whale species is not under threat of extinction, go ahead and eat 'em.

Sometimes I really think certain over-emotional people with nothing better to do get more worked up over whales being hunted than if it were, say, windsurfers or balloonists.

Killing humans can be far more productive, and certainly more sporting, as they tend to arm themselves and try to fight back.

[Odin]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Why should it be bad to hunt a species to extinction?

[Lorizael]

Considering that almost every species to ever live is now extinct, it seems only natural, yes?