Japan Is Back in the Hunt for Whales

[knocker]

 

Claiming purely “scientific†motives, Japan’s political leaders are cynically planning to resume whale hunting in the Southern Ocean, despite the International Court of Justice finding that the Japanese government regularly violated its obligations under the international ban against commercial whaling off Antarctica.

 

The government suspended this year’s hunt after the March ruling, in which the court noted that about 3,600 minke whales were caught since 2005 to be sold as commercial food, with little if any new research produced about the slain creatures.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/opinion/sunday/japan-is-back-in-the-hunt-for-whales.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

[Lauren]

Urgh.

 

I really do not understand this AT ALL.

 

They can't say it's for scientific purposes, because that has been proven to be bull numerous times.

They could claim it was for food, but whale and dolphin meat is very high in mercury and poisonous in anything other than tiny amounts and has been banned by even most areas of Japan.

The black market for whale meat is ever decreasing.

 

So the only logical conclusion I can come to is thy are killing them to get rid of competition in their fishing waters (and even not their waters sometimes).

 

I hope the UN gets on their arses about this.

[knocker]

Quite agree Lauren. Norway and ourselves did enough damage at the height of the killing spree.

[Lauren]

I'll always remember a story my Dad told me. I have seen my Dad cry twice in his life and not a lot tends to bother him.

 

He is a Dive Master and was diving one year on holiday. His group just happened to come across a mother and her calf and they halted the dive just to watch them. They came quite close and didn't feel threatened at all. She was playing with her calf and showing it how to do different things and it was totally mesmerising. He said it became obvious the the Mum was bringing her calf up for air and coming closer to them in an inquisitive way and the calf seemed to be getting excited about these strange things in the water. They had to finish the dive and got back on the boat and watched them swim away.

 

The captain told them that they were following a path that would lead them to their death as they were heading into whaling waters and the next day when out on the boat again, they could see the whaling boats in the distance. My Dad said that that really played on his mind for such a long time and to this day he finds it difficult to watch anything with whales.

[Boro Snow]

This is disgusting and i hope Paul Watson and his crew will give them as much grief as possible

 

Edited November 30, 2014 by Boro Snow

[knocker]

I'll always remember a story my Dad told me. I have seen my Dad cry twice in his life and not a lot tends to bother him.

 

He is a Dive Master and was diving one year on holiday. His group just happened to come across a mother and her calf and they halted the dive just to watch them. They came quite close and didn't feel threatened at all. She was playing with her calf and showing it how to do different things and it was totally mesmerising. He said it became obvious the the Mum was bringing her calf up for air and coming closer to them in an inquisitive way and the calf seemed to be getting excited about these strange things in the water. They had to finish the dive and got back on the boat and watched them swim away.

 

The captain told them that they were following a path that would lead them to their death as they were heading into whaling waters and the next day when out on the boat again, they could see the whaling boats in the distance. My Dad said that that really played on his mind for such a long time and to this day he finds it difficult to watch anything with whales.

 

There was a thread on the subject not long ago. The TV programes were very good and quite moving.

 

https://forum.netweather.tv/topic/80643-britains-whale-hunters/