The Japanese whaling ships are in Southern waters killing Minke, Fin and apparently next year, Humpback whales - due to this being in Southern waters, Greenpeace always leaving from here to protest and the fire on board one of the ships causing everyone to panic that masses of oil will ruin the most pristine area of wilderness in the world, it is on our news quite regularly.
Now, noone for one minute believes that the Japanese are really whaling for any kind of research purposes, this is just how they get round the law for killing whales in a whale “sanctuary”. What I want to know is why the international community can’t ask for evidence that research is being done - surely they need to be accountable for doing what they say they are doing?
It’s because the moratorium on whaling is solely a self-imposed one. There are no laws nor even any treaties against whaling. I’m sure that some minimal Japanese research is being done, but even if there weren’t, the only likely result that could come from a confrontation over the issue would just be that Japan resumes whaling openly.
Wikipedia’s article on the International Whaling Commission gives a little more depth:
Watch out for Neptune’s Navy, boys…
Taking humpbacks is pathetic, but of course, so is the taking any whale species for bullshit “scientific research.”
Huh. And here I thought we were in GQ.
But why doesn’t anyone say, okay if you’re doing scientific research, show us your research reports and peer reviewed articles?
(BTW lived in far north of Japan, only saw a bit of whale meat in the city fish market and a few tins of whale meat, most people in my area never ate it - been to Wakayama ken where their main domestic tourist industry is eating whale meat)
Well, the wikipedia article I linked to above made mention of Japan’s “continuing studies on sex and age of population distributions,” so I’d say they are releasing at least token research data. As for why no one’s pushing it, as I said, nothing could come of it.
Cite? While Taiji-cho down south is centered around whaling, I find it highly unlikely that it’s Wakayama’s main tourist spot. Both Mt. Koya or the resort town of Shirahama surely bring in far more Japanese tourists. In Wakayama-shi I’ve seen whale meat occasionally show up at the market or at kaiten-zushi, but that’s all.
Sorry, didn’t mean THE tourist attraction I meant ONE OF THE - I remember driving around the coast and seeing more than just a few places where whale meat was the thing to eat. Had never come across places that are known for their whale meat like that before. The fact that it is in kaiten-zushi, which is pretty much the fast-food version of sushiyas (according to many Northerners), is very interesting, surely that means that it is more readily available.
From Good Omens:
The Kappamaki, a whaling research ship, was currently researching the question: How many whales can you catch in one week?
How do you know the ship was doing research? Because the word “RESEARCH” is blazoned on the ship in large white letters. Like so.