Posted on 07/21/2010 7:49:38 PM PDT by sinanju
"..But the larger question is: Why does anyone bother to hunt whales anymore? The economics of whale hunting are simply dismal. No whaling nation profits from it. Japans annual, much-criticized Antarctic hunt hasnt involved private capital for years. As Leape notes: Japans is a very small industry, employing less than 1,000 people, catching many more whales than they can sell. They try to promote it with school children and free-whale-meat days and its not catching on.
In Norway, although government-subsidized coastal whalers have missed their annual quota nine times in the last decade, blubber stockpiles mount as consumers ignore state-backed ad campaigns for burgers, ham, and pastrami made of whale. The government cut off subsidies that paid for the whalers inspection program, leaving only an electronic system that the IWC deems unacceptable, according to Sink or Swim: The Economics of Whaling today, a 2009 study by the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society.
That came weeks after Icelands Ministry for Fisheries & Agriculture announced that a report it had commissioned from the University of Icelands Institute of Economic Studies (neither the institute nor the ministry have posted it) said that the economically devastated country could benefit from killing 300 whales annually. Conceding that direct whaling profits were not quantifiable, the study attributed most of the projected gain to $94 million in additional fish that it estimated would be caught if some whales were killed, according to Iceland Review online."
(Excerpt) Read more at thebigmoney.com ...
Good post, don’t listen to the old school “companies can do no wrong” and “all animals deserve to die” conservatives. They are the same one’s hoarding ammo and talking “smack” who won’t fire a shot. They post on here and by that think they are preserving the nation. Meanwhile, the country is already a socialist nation. The truth is conservative’s ought to be about conservation.
“Whales are intelligent animals and very clearly not prey animals.”
BS plus totally useless!!
“The truth is conservatives ought to be about conservation.”
Absolutely, what is wrong with sensibly using what nature provides?
Well, if you knew anything about what the Japanese claim that they are doing which is “studying them” and that they only cut them open and study their stomach contents (like 900 of them a year) then you’d know that is very wasteful. But then, I can tell you’re an old school conservative.
“Well, if you knew anything about what the Japanese claim that they are doing which is studying them and that they only cut them open and study their stomach contents”
Well if you’re as smart as you claim then you’d realize the “studying” was only a loophole which was provided to allow them to keep harvesting whales.
I was told by my wife I had to stop watching “Whale Wars” at night, my screaming profanities at the screen kept waking my children.
The only reason I want to watch is to catch the final episode when the Japanese navy has finally had enough of their antics and puts a 5” round right through the wheelhouse window, which by the laws of the sea they legally could.
The best part would be when they pull the survivors out of the water as she Sea Sheppard goes under, preferably with that idiot felon holding to tradition and going with it.
Whales are not some special beings held above others because they are mammals living in the ocean. I am not saying it is right to go after the endangered species, but the more populous smaller ones should be harvested the same as any other natural resource by those that want to.
species | population | status and listings* |
northern right whale | 500-1,000 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
southern right whale | 3,000 | endangered (ESA); vulunerable (IUCN) |
bowhead whale | 8,000 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
blue whale | 10,000-14,000 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
fin whale | 120,000-150,000 | endangered (ESA); vulnerable (IUCN) |
sei whale | 50,000 | endangered (ESA) |
humpback whale | 10,000+ | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
sperm whale | 200,000 | endangered (ESA) |
vaquita | a few hundred | endangered (ESA) |
baiji | about 300 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
Indus susu | 500 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
Ganges susu | unknown | vulnerable (IUCN) |
boto | unknown; thought to be declining | vulnerable (IUCN) |
franciscana | unknown | not listed |
tucuxi | unknown | not listed |
Hector's dolphin | 3,000-4,000 | vulnerable (IUCN) |
Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin | unknown; thought to be depleted | not listed |
Atlantic humpbacked dolphin | unknown, but depleted | not listed |
* "ESA" denotes listing according to the Endangered Species Act. "IUCN" denotes listing according to the IUCN/World Conservation Union Red Databook. |
‘and possibly cause to go extinct entire species of whales, foolishness.’
hyperbole, the species of whales that the Japanese hunt are not endangered. At least get your facts straight before getting all emotional.
Really, which ones are the hunting ...
This time, however, the whalers are planning what’s expected to be its largest hunt in decades; along with about 850 minke and 50 finback whales, the fleet says it plans to harpoon as many as 50 humpback whales for the first time since hunting the endangered species was banned in 1963.
Japan has cited its long history as a whaling nation and its historic reliance on whale meat for protein as reasons why it should be continued to allow to hunt despite the IWC ban. But Japanese consumption has become so negligible that local governments are encouraging schools to incorporate whale in their lunch programs, while thousands of tons of whale meat remain stockpiled in freezers. The bigger issue, observers say, is whaling’s impact on far more popular forms of seafood. Japan, which consumes half of the world’s tuna catch, recently admitted to exceeding its quota for southern bluefin tuna set under an agreement with Australia and New Zealand, as overfishing threatens to decimate the animal’s population. Plunging global fish stocks, along with a growing taste for sushi in China and the West, make Japan very uneasy about its future access to fresh seafood. So holding a firm line on the sustainable harvesting of whales, the argument goes, can help stave off a larger fight over more important fishing rights down the road. Says Moronuki: “Our whaling culture is near extinction because of the moratorium on commercial whaling. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen to other marine resources.”
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1686486,00.html#ixzz0uQ7mvvfK
They are killing them and then begging thier population to eat the stuff, finally trying to shove it down their kids throats in the school lunch program. If left alone the Japanese would fish the oceans to thier extinction, they will wipe out the tuna too, they are very irresponsible.
For the most part minke whales.
IWC - Japan Special Permit Catches (19882009) [84]
Area Fin Sperm Sei Brydes Minke Total
N Pacific 0 47 592 446 1899 2984
S Hemisphere 14 0 0 0 9395 9409
Now if our road only opens back up. 3-4 inches of rain on the summit will wash any road out.
“If left alone the Japanese would fish the oceans to thier extinction, they will wipe out the tuna too, they are very irresponsible.”
Ahh so you are racist.
I just finished a gig with a Inuit Native Corp. with lots of Eskimos on staff. A really nice lady would bring things in to share. A really fun place to work, very nice folks.
Never had a chance to try pickeled muktuk, the frozen stuff is OK once thawed and eaten with soy sauce.
Better than Hiwaiian SPAM sushi (ack)
“but the heart of his argument is that few people in the above nations can stand whale meat”
That is not true. Expecially in Japan it is considered a delicasy. The other reason is the only whaling left is of the small Minke whale. Their populaton has exploded during the last decade and they eat the same types of fish that are commercially fished by humans, and they eat tons of it each. Thinning their numbers helps maintain healthy stocks of seafood.
“no point in fighting the lefties..” There be wee to gain.. lest in our effort we create displeasure and deny to Him such scenes for ammusennt, that He alone, hath created, and left in our custody. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8318000/8318182.stm
The last one I killed, I didn't care for the insolent way it was looking at me. Besides, I needed oil for my lamp so I could read my copy of Moby Dick.
Until the 1990s, only one species of minke whale was recognized, the Antarctic Minke Whale B. bonaerensis being regarded as conspecific with the Common Minke Whale B. acutorostrata. Most of the scientific literature prior to the late 1990s uses the name B. acutorostrata for all minke whales including Antarctic Minke Whales. Since 2000, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee (SC) has recognized Antarctic Minke Whales as the separate species B. bonaerensis, while all northern hemisphere minke whales and all southern hemisphere "dwarf" minke whales are regarded as B. acutorostrata (IWC 2001). This has been followed by management and treaty bodies, such as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/species.html
Balaenoptera bonaerensis
(198591) 786,000
(19912004) 338,000
http://www.redlist.org/documents/attach/2480.pdf
The IWC SC conducted a major assessment of Antarctic minke whales in 1990, and a population estimate of 760,000 was adopted, based on results of the IDCR surveys conducted in the seasons 1982/83 through 1988/89 (IWC 1991).
Results of subsequent surveys indicated lower abundances leading the Committee to conclude in 2000 that the estimate of 760,000 was no longer a valid estimate of current abundance.
The Committee has to date (January 2007) been unable to determine whether the apparent decline was real or artifactual.
http://www.redlist.org/apps/redlist/details/2480/0
“the only whaling left is of the small Minke whale.” This looks like a Sperm whale to me. http://www.icrwhale.org/08/s/img/08-A-01-08.jpg And this whale isn’t a Minke. http://www.life.com/image/74843017/in-gallery/36282/whalings-gruesome-catch
Apparently so are whales.
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