Great. Now This: Japan Whaling for Humpbacks

Why is it okay to eat infiniate numbers of cows, but eating half a percent of the whales is a sin?

Why? My guess is, to make a point and to undermine the current international whaling management system (which, to be fair, is severely broken in several respects). The point is probably that if other indigenous peoples that's traditionally hunted whale can continue to do so long after its actually economically necessary, then so can Japan (which does fulfill all the same criteria).

Does it make some kind of sense from that perspective? Yes, to some degree it does. Does it make sense from a larger, economical viewpoint? No, of course not; it's completely destructive, and further, whale meat is considered something of a poverty diet and is not popular (it continued to be a school lunch staple - the very definition of cheap - up until the early 1960's). But then, the whaling system today doesn't make ecological or economical sense either.

My guess is that you basically need to scrap thecurrent regulatory system and create a new one, based on rational criteria rather than emotion and cultural exceptions in order to resolve this rolling deadlock.

Janne, Great to see you in the blogosphere. Your insights into Japanese culture are always valuable. Thanks for the interesting points.

Morris, Cows were domesticated nearly 10,000 years ago. Comparing cows to whales (or worse, to the friendly manatee or 'sea cow') is unacceptable since cows today exist expressly for human purposes while whales are wildlife. We've demolished most of this planet's wildlife and so I staunchly defend the meager remainder, particularly that which has no role in human survival. Your thoughts?

Humpback whales have learned to trust man in the forty-five years since we stopped hunting them.
If Japan carries out its aim of harpooning 50 humpback whales in the Antarctic this Southern Hemisphere Summer, the whale watching industry on Australia's east and west coasts will soon find out.
The humpbacks are the same as those who delight Australians each year and have created a $AU 300 million a year whale watching industry.
There is no benefit to mankind by killing these whales. Their meat won't help the poor ease their hunger but will grace the tables of the wealthy. The killing is done in the name of science but is it science to kill the subject?
chris pash
http://thelastwhale.blogspot.com

Thanks, Chris, for also pointing out the economic argument against whaling for humpbacks. In 2001, the UNEP published a study that whale watchers (an estimated 10 million annually) spent an around $1 billion in 1998 on the spectacle.

This reminds me of my own whale-watching experience for an article I wrote in 2004 for the Massachusetts Wildlife Magazine:

I strain my eyes across the blue void in anticipation. The vessels topped with eager tourists floats quietly on the water. Finally, the pair arrives. The mother and calf approach the boat, peer up at their audience, and surface. They breathe. I am delighted but cannot help but furrow my brow. Plankton is, from an olfactory perspective, the garlic of the sea; the smell is almost as immense as the whales themselves. These humpbacks need a two-ton tic tac!

Chris - you say that humpback whales have "learned to trust man" -- is that really documented? It's kinda cool if it is, but is it? What do you base that upon?

"Swimmers must not approach a whale closer than 30 metres."
http://www.whalediscoveries.com/wdguidelines.htm

If the whales let swimmers closer than 30 metres they do trust humans to some degree. More than the Government of Tonga does.

Sheril, from the Intersection, directed me to your blog as I am feeling so angry and disgusted with Japan. They are going against world opinion and protest, and for whatever reason, just do not seem to care. Shame on Japan!!! It will come back to haunt you.

It gets even worse if you look at the history. I understand that Japan has a different opinion of whales than the Western world. But I don't understand their willingness to bribe countries into appearing that they share their views.

Back in 2001, Japan admitted to bribing poor nations to support its pro-whaling stance at the IWC. The previous year, Dominica's environment minister resigned in protest because six Caribbean nations voted with Japan on almost every issue, including blocking a proposed whale sanctuary in the South Pacific. More recently, in 2005, the fisheries chief in the Solomon Islands accused Japan of bribes in the form of large aid packages in exchange for support at the IWC and cheap access to tuna fisheries.

All this scandal for a few hundred dead whales?

Maybe they're going to try marketing to replace tuna with whalemeat, given the current tuna scarcity....

No, I'm not claiming this makes sense. It's just the sort of maximally perverse kind of thing that humans come up with on a regular basis.

When I read of these Japanese hunting whales like this, I find myself wishing that some country out there would send it's military fleet out to see with instructions to take out ten Japanese whaling ships for every whale they're hunting. For "scientific research," of course.

Andy Revikin wrote about whaling backlash this weekend in the New York Times...