Japanese Whalers don't read Col Regs

fireball said:
So Japan do not have IWC permits to catch whales for commercial reasons - hence why the Japanese continue to call it "scientific research" - have you seen any results from this research? Why is it necessary to kill around 1000 whales a year? I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers were far greater had SS not managed to interrupt their hunts.

Where else in the world do we hunt wild mammals at this level?
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Japan gets away with this for very old fashioned reasons which citizens of any ex imperial power should recognise immediately:

Various small countries (e.g in Central America IIRC) with no interest in whaling are somehow IWC members. There is of course no connection at all between the aid those countries receive from Japan and their willingness to vote on "scientific" whaling in a way which suits Japan.
 
fireball said:
So Japan do not have IWC permits to catch whales for commercial reasons - hence why the Japanese continue to call it "scientific research" - have you seen any results from this research? Why is it necessary to kill around 1000 whales a year? I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers were far greater had SS not managed to interrupt their hunts.

Where else in the world do we hunt wild mammals at this level?
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No, they have permits for their scientific hunting.

http://iwc.int/permits

There's a bit on hat page about the IWCs attitude to sea shepherd on that page too.
 
fireball said:
I really can't understand how the Japanese think they can just say it's for scientific purposes when they're hunting 100's of whales a year.
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Wrong way round if "Flat Earth News" by Nick Davies is correct. According to that, the scientific excuse is the sole reason they have to kill large numbers at great expense.

They would need to kill far fewer simply to satisfy the commercial demand for whales, which is very low. The Japanese have to kill *extra* to give them statistically meaningful data and therefore valid 'science' to justify hunting Whales.
 
wadget said:
Not sure I see a difference between eating whale and eating cod.
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I'm inclined to agree with that.

Whilst I know it is about to change, for years we've been throwing vast quantities of fish away because of idiotic EU rules. I'm not sure that we are really in a position to lecture the Japanese
 
Does anybody know what the 'scientific reasons' for whaling are, broadly? If there is any justification, it ought to be widely understood, or made understandable.

If it was recognised as justifiable, it might quieten those furious about whaling...on the other hand, if the justification is plainly inadequate, current general acceptance of Japanese/Norwegian whaling as a wretched national eccentricity, might drop away.
 
dancrane said:
Does anybody know what the 'scientific reasons' for whaling are, broadly? If there is any justification, it ought to be widely understood, or made understandable.

If it was recognised as justifiable, it might quieten those furious about whaling...on the other hand, if the justification is plainly inadequate, current general acceptance of Japanese/Norwegian whaling as a wretched national eccentricity, might drop away.
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Dan, your last postulation is and has been for many years the case. The so called international community has never managed to get its act together to stop real abuses, and to my mind the rise of countries such as China means that the prospect is receding all the time.
 
A very unsatisfactory state of affairs. I find it impossible to condemn that which is described as the 'piratical' action of whaling-saboteurs...

...because the actions of the whalers themselves (whether technically legal or not) are so utterly repugnant to such a vast majority of minds.

Here's a nice whale story: http://www.youtube.com/embed/EBYPlcSD490?rel=0
 
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