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Posted on 07/17/2011 2:42:46 AM PDT by tlb
The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting has closed after a tense final day when relations between opposing blocs came close to collapse.
Latin American nations attempted to force a vote on a proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic.
Pro-whaling countries walked out, but eventually it was decided to shelve any vote until next year's meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, governments agreed new regulations designed to prevent "cash for votes" scandals that have plagued the IWC in the past, and passed a resolution censuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for putting safety at risk during its annual missions to counter Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.
But the sanctuary issue threatened to derail the entire session.
"We didn't come here to win the sanctuary on the vote, but we wanted to put it to a vote - we believe our conservation agenda cannot be put forward, be stressed, be highlighted, be defended in some issues without a vote," said Brazil's commissioner Marcus Henrique Paranagua.
The pro-whaling bloc said this could herald a return to the fractious days of the past, and walked out in an attempt to bring the meeting below the quorum needed for votes to count.
The compromise eventually hammered out, after private discussions lasting nearly nine hours, asks countries to strive to reach consensus during the coming year.
"Acrimony is often the enemy of conservation - in this case, it meant that a critical meeting on whales failed to address the greatest threats they face," said Wendy Elliott, head of environment group WWF's delegation.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Where did you come up with that nonsense? Of course there is a valid reason for whaling. People want to eat whale meat.
I might be wrong but I understand that there is a glut of whale meat in Japan and it is the cheapest it has ever been.
I am taking a 5 minute FR break at work so I can't research it further. (I'm the IT guy too and don't want to report myself)
I might be wrong but I understand that there is a glut of whale meat in Japan and it is the cheapest it has ever been.
I am taking a 5 minute FR break at work so I can't research it further. (I'm the IT guy too and don't want to report myself)
Been able to get any info about whale meat supplies in Japan. How about Brazil, Argentina and the Emirites.
The price for whale meat in Japan has decreased in recent years -- falling to $12 a pound in 2004 compared with $15 a pound in 1999.
Twelve bucks a pound is NOT expensive when a plate of spaghetti at a reasonably nice restaurant is $15.00.
“Is there any valid reason for hunting anything in your opinion? “
Yes
“There is a market for whale isn’t there?”
Probably. There’s a market for cocaine and prostitutes too.
“Why would they buy something if it had no value?”
Value is relative - see above.
“I just want to understand how you came to that conclusion.”
NOBODY needs wahle meat to survive and there is no real market for whale bone or baleen. Whales are magnificent creatures, highly intelligent and whaling is an exceedingly brutal business.
I think hunting deer or bear for instance is fine. There are lots of them both - they are a plague on the olandscape, people can eat them and they can be killed relatively easily - if you know what you are doing.
Some animals are more equal than others.
“Whale meat is a high priced delicacy in Japan.”
So is ANYTHING of biological origins there from sea horses to brains to dog meat to monkeys. That is no argument.
I hope the gustatory proclivities of Japan and China are never established for the rest of the world. The only things left would be roaches anc rats - maybe.
Guess that means Liberals are fair game.
Yes there is, for food. Unless of course you're arrogant enough to believe that you can dictate the dietary choices of Japanese consumers.
I LOVE tossing hand granades into these conversastions. It always smokes out the neaderthals.
Whales are magnificent, highly intelligent animals and in today’s society there is no need to kill them. They are not undergoing any population explosion or posing any threats to anyone. You want to eat a wild animal? Go take out some deer or black bears and do us a real service. We have too many of them, they are a health threat and public menace and they taste great. Leave the whales alone.
“Further, whales are capable of multiplying until they deplete their food resources.”
I guess they couldn’t exist until we started hunting them then. (Sarcasm).
“In other words, your argument is just as dumb as PETA screaming that we should all be vegans and seeking global government to enforce their human population control preferences.”
Just demonstrating your neaderthal thought train again. I hate PETA, am defintely NOT a vegan (when did YOU eat whale meat?)approve of hunting, have done so myself, but have an issue with killing whales. O.K.?
“The planet can benefit as a whole from intelligent management, supporting both more people and more wildlife. “
True. But I know of NO evidence that the whale population is either a threat to us or anyone else at present.
“Humans are the only species capable of prospective intervention, but the one thing in our way is this idiotic idea that Nature is self-optimizing, as if the system was capable of prospective volition. It doesn’t work that way.”
O.K. How did nature get along before we arrived on the scene then? What you are saying applies in specific situations but not with respect to whales. The situation is not analogous to deer, bear, coyotes or other game animals or pests.
“Grow up. “
I grew up a lot longer ago than you did, and based on your comments, you still have a lot of growing up to do.
As long as our gustatory proclivities are more advanced than that of the Chinese or Japanese, that will not be a valid argument.
According to you. So in order to hunt anything on the planet, it first must be cleared by...you? You are going to be a busy guy overseeing all of those requests.
That’s a great answer. It accurately reflects the Leftists view that permiates the anti-whalers actions.
‘We are so much smarter that you that we can forcfully impose our feelings onto you and how you live’.
Fortunately for civilization, the world doesn’t work that way.
You pass for a liberal. A mass of ignorant condescension, replete with spelling errors.
You REALLY don't know whom you are addressing. I've spent twenty years doing native plant habitat restoration, starting well before the subject was taught at the universities. I've also written two books on the topic and have been invited to publish technical papers on our results. I own the first business method patent on a free-market environmental management business method. Neanderthal? ROTFLMAO.
Stick it idiot.
Whales are magnificent, highly intelligent animals and in today’s society there is no need to kill them.
Yes they are intelligent. Yes they are magnificent. So are seals. So are octopus. You, on the other hand, are an idiot.
They are not undergoing any population explosion or posing any threats to anyone.
That is a totally subjective assessment. All I am saying is that to optimize the system they will have to be managed.
I guess they couldn’t exist until we started hunting them then. (Sarcasm).
Obviously not. But it does mean that they go through boom and bust cycles without management, like almost any other species. Do you think starving whales are a good thing?
I repeat: Idiot.
Just demonstrating your neaderthal thought train again. I hate PETA, am defintely NOT a vegan (when did YOU eat whale meat?)approve of hunting, have done so myself, but have an issue with killing whales. O.K.?
Thank you for proving yourself incapable of reading. I didn't say you approved of PETA, et al. I said you were just as dumb, which you have been only too happy to confirm.
True. But I know of NO evidence that the whale population is either a threat to us or anyone else at present.
Oh, so determining optimal whale populations is the exclusive province of people like you who want them for entertainment? I see. What made you as knowledgeable as people who depend upon whale productivity for their livelihoods and interact with them every day? Who made you king?
O.K. How did nature get along before we arrived on the scene then?
Not as well as you think. People are just as capable of augmenting system productivity as they are capable of destroying it. There is no such thing as a "balance of nature." It is an urban myth.
Forgot all about that. Good one.
Please let me know if you want on or off the Whale Wars ping list.
Guess I really got you off.
Your credentials don’t impress me. My academic credentials are also pretty impressive. I have two degrees in zoology.
And only a TOTAL moron and tunnel-visioned neanderthal could POSSIBLY accuse me of being a liberal after having read my prior posts on an entire spectrum of hot button political subjects.
Don’t confuse typos with grammatical errors, it demonnstrates your need to stoop to trivia.
You probably thought you got the best of the argument by enclosing the largest number of “idiot” attacks.
But I said and I repeat, NEANDERTHAL.
I think the “leftists” are the people who support cultural equivalence, as you obvious do in defending eastern Asian feeding habits.
“According to you. So in order to hunt anything on the planet, it first must be cleared by...you? You are going to be a busy guy overseeing all of those requests.”
Sorry.
The next time I express my opinion, I’ll be careful to clear it with you in advance.
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