Japan to resume whale hunting under guise of Research
 

:(

Sigh, here we go again. The Japanese are about to set off on another one of their "research" whale hunts. It drives me crazy when they try to pull this BS. It's the ultimate double speak as far as I am concerned.

I realize that they make the arguement about what makes some animals lunch and other animals protected, my answer is "it's just different with Whales and Dolphins" They are very intelligent, they are in the wild (not being raised on a farm for consumption) and they are in danger of extinction.

I wish someone would fire a harpoon right through these guys.

Here's the article......

Tokyo — In a cramped laboratory, a biologist with the Institute of Cetacean Research prepares plugs taken from whales' ears for age analysis. Scientists study their reproductive habits, food sources, and the mercury levels in their tissue.

And then, of course, there's the guy who studies the best way to kill them.

For nearly two decades, as commercial whaling has largely vanished under a global ban, a half-dozen Japanese vessels have sailed off to the waters of Antarctica and the northwestern Pacific each year to hunt, kill and bring home samples of whales for an ongoing research program — along with tonnes of meat for sale.

snip

and the link....

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/...enceandHealth/

As Terry Pratchett suggested in his book Good Omen, the only type of "research" that they do is just to see how many whales they can kill.

Can we do "research" of the whalers?

If you feel so strongly about why they do these things then go do your oun study of the whalers to see what makes them tic.
Maybe you could vivisect their brains and let us know what you find.

i am gonna have to side with the Japanese, they don't have anywhere near the amount of land as the U.S. to raise cattle for food. living off the sea is what they have always done. To me this way better than the Indian tribe in the NW that went on a whale hunt "because it was their ancestral right". they let the majority of the meat rot.

Having lived in Japan, I can say that whale meat accounts for virtually none of the fish/meat on the market.

You can get it, but it's rare and expensive. It's also really stringy, kind of tough, and doesn't taste very good.

The only people who eat it more than once are rich old folk who are nostalgic for the taste because it's what they served in schools after the war when other meat wasn't available.

The Japanese could make large ocean pastures to breed whales like cows and then they could have as much whale meat as they wished. Or they could invent synthetic soy whale meat or something along those lines...

When animals are on the brink of extinction, I think a proactive plan to continue their breeding should be in place as well. Like when the clearcutting of trees takes place in parts of the U.S., there are now laws in place that make new tree growth an integral part of clearcutting procedures. If the Japanese did this with the breeds of whales the kill, I would be all for the consumption of them. Since this is not happening and they claim it is for experimentation, I feel that it should be a global issue and banned.

it takes land to grow soy, which they do not have... that was moonsrucks point...

not a bad idea.

it's probably not widely on the market for the same reasons this thread was started. I personally would never eat any but I won't sit here and say that people who want to are wrong. (not implying that you are)

That's true.

I think that the Japanese whale meat industry is kind of dependent on the fact that there's so little of it available that it has appeal based on its rarity. I think if lots of it was available at the cost of beef that it would be a huge failure as few people would select it over other meats on a regular basis.

If Japan faced some sort of meat shortage or if the cost of importing meat went up significantly, I think I would support Japan turning to whale as an option for cutting costs and maintaining food supply. Given that this isn't a problem, I don't think Japan should get special treatment in terms of international law regarding whaling.

I agree, but thus far they are doing it for research. i hope.

and at least there is no "mad whale" disease.

mad whale!:D was there not a movie about a crazed orca whale years ago?