# Japanese and whaling **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-and-whaling/361136 "2006-06-18T02:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-and-whaling/361136/41 "2006-06-27T02:52:54Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > I agree with most of your reasons, but what treaty exactly are you referring to? > The debate around whaling is tends to focus on the actions and deliberations of the International Whaling Comission, which exists to implement [this](http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm) convention intended to ensure > The whole ‘research’ thing is a transparent dodge round the moratorium, but then trying to establish a permanent ban on any whaling, ever, is also absolutely at odds with the treaty and the supposed purpose of the IWC. The current state of affairs is absolutely guaranteed to cause policy paralysis and endless infighting. If members of PETA joined the Beef Cattlemens Association in order to push through a permanent ban on the killing of bovines, you’d get pretty much the same situation. I have to admit that I conflated treaty with convention. Still, they signed an agreement and constantly circumvent it. The honest thing to do would be not to sign an agreement that would not be followed. The thing that pisses off pretty much all parties is the two-faced tack they’re taking. The impending expansion of “research” whaling is going to be pretty close to the numbers being taken when Japan’s whaling was openly commercial in nature. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-and-whaling/361136/42 "2006-06-27T03:06:21Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > I have to admit that I conflated treaty with convention. Still, they signed an agreement and constantly circumvent it. Still, it’s an agreement between whaling nations. Maybe they view it as “Fight Club” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-and-whaling/361136/43 "2006-06-27T03:15:53Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > Fair enough. As long as you agree it isn’t really a rational argument, I don’t disagree. Well, “Don’t hunt whales, they’re pretty,” is at least as rational an argument as, “Let me hunt whales, they’re tasty.” ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-and-whaling/361136/44 "2006-06-27T07:30:31Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The existence of illegal whaling vessels and rogue fishing trawlers already shows that whalers and fishing companies can’t be trusted to stick to agreements. This is a key point. As long as whaling is virtually banned, there is no real market for it and virtually anyone doing it is doing it illegally. Even choked down to that level, regulating whaling is hard. If moderate legal whaling were allowed a market for whale meat developed, and an industry around that expanded, regulation would fall apart. Like all industries, it would never be happy with the size and level of profits it had and would want to get bigger. When the world’s oceans are your playing field, avoiding the eye of the referee is pitifully easy. The pace at which modern fishing could scoop up the world’s whale population could easily outstrip the whale populations ability to regenerate, and any scientific attempt to show that whales were heading to extinction. The industry would in the usual fashion vociferously deny any evidence to this effect that was less than utterly rigorous, while lobbying ferociously against any form of regulation, until it was too late. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-and-whaling/361136.md?page=2)