Replies

No, as I said HUNT ANYTHING as long as it is not in danger of being extinct.

Then what is the problem? I've yet to see anything, other than greenie groups, suggesting that Minke whales are in danger of extinction.

In Alaska, polar bears are listed as threatened and the green groups are trying to list them as endangered. This is entirely political, and the populations of all bear populations in the state are high and in many areas there are too many. There are even groups trying to stop hunting of other bear species too. I see no reason there can not be a drawn hunt on them, the same as Canada or Russia.

The point I'm making is that environmental groups will often times emotionally politicize an animal as being endangered, especially ones like whales or bears since few ever see them, because it generates lots of money for them.

There are a variety of estimates of Minke whale populations, the best data actually coming from the whaling ‘researchers’ - The lowest ever quoted and taken seriously in modern times is 380,000. The highest is 680,000, and the most accepted estimate is just shy of 500,000.

The Japanese have a strict quota which they've never come close to making, which is 1,000, or less than one half of one percent of the present population. More die of old age each year than ever will be harvested by the current Japanese whaling fleet.

The ‘illegal’ aspect is an international ban on all commercial whaling after the Onasis fleet evaded regulation by maintaining enough shell ownerships that no one was sure WHICH country had control over them; those ships were sold to the Japanese and are the ‘research’ fleet that is hunting whales today.

Much more questionable is the whale hunting near Japanese territorial waters, where whale populations may be in a more threatened state, but in Antarctic waters, the Minke thrive.

I'll grant the point that the entire ‘research’ aspect is a crock, but so is an outright ban. Like any responsible hunter, the Japanese are, at least down there, taking a sustainable catch, and as well, sharing the data about their catch with officials so that an overall image can be made of Minke populations, health, age, and general condition.

A real scientific survey of the Minke is highly unlikely to ever get funding, as there is no evidence that the population is under any threat, though of course, like everything else, global warming is attributed in theories that state that the Minke will suddenly die out as their food source is eliminated by climate change.

So, in short, the Minke is not endangered, the whaling is providing the only current scientific information on the condition of the Minke, and a very low relative to wild population hunting limit each season. For any other creature, this would be called sustainable hunting, and lauded for social and environmental responsibility.