"You may not remember the huge Japanese fishing fleets, which included factory ships, that used to decimate fish stocks off New England. They may not be in New England anymore, but they continue to pretty much fish the living hell out of the seas worldwide. Who knows what the answer is in this case, but the fact that fishing stocks might be depleted by Japanese wouldn't be a surprise either."
I'm aware of that - I was just pointing out that the standard he held for what he criticized - no study about this particular issue - is not the same he used for his own unfortunate statement. I personally don't care if they eat whales or anything else for that matter.
You're right, it was just an unsupported guess. I thought it reasonable, but he should have made clear that it was a guess.