Whaling

[Corpsey]

I watched the news last night, to find out that the first vote towards removing the moritorium on commercial whaling has been one by a majority of one vote. This doesn't mean that commercial whaling can be started immediately, but it is the first step towards it.

Japan gains key whaling victory

Japan has some way to go before commercial whaling can begin
Pro-whaling nations have won their first vote towards the resumption of commercial whaling for 20 years.
The International Whaling Commission meeting backed a resolution calling for the eventual return of commercial whaling by a majority of just one vote.

Japan said the outcome was "historic", but it does not mean a lifting of the 1986 ban - that would need support from three-quarters of the commission.

Anti-whaling countries say they will challenge the decision.

Conservation groups have expressed dismay, with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) saying anti-whaling nations needed to work harder to prevent the ban eventually being overturned.

"This is the most serious defeat the conservation cause has ever suffered at the IWC"

Chris Carter, New Zealand Environment Minister

Put your questions to IWC scientist Dr Greg Donovan
Japan and other pro-whaling nations want to move the International Whaling Commission (IWC) away from conservation and towards managing whale numbers.

The resolution declared: "The moratorium, which was clearly intended as a temporary measure, is no longer necessary."

It was tabled by six Caribbean nations, including St Kitts and Nevis, where the annual IWC meeting is being held.

The resolution was approved by a vote of 33 to 32, with one member - China - abstaining.

Although the ban aimed at protecting the endangered species is still in place, there is no doubt commercial hunting is a step closer, the BBC's Richard Black in St Kitts says.

'Whalers' club'

Ifaw spokesman Joth Singh described the decision as a "wake-up call" for countries which claimed they cared for whales.

HOW NATIONS VOTED
Pro-whaling: Includes Japan, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, Morocco, Cambodia
Anti-whaling: Includes UK, US, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, France, Spain, Germany, Israel
"It is clear that the intent is for the IWC to revert back to a whalers' club, which is what it was up to the 1970s," he said.

After the vote, Brazil and New Zealand said they would challenge the resolution.

"This is the most serious defeat the conservation cause has ever suffered at the IWC," New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter told AFP news agency.

"It has been a significant diplomatic victory for Japan."

Some conservationists have singled out Denmark for particular attention, after it voted with Japan despite being a European Union member, our correspondent says.

Chris Carter (R) said the anti-whaling bloc would regroup
As well as St Kitts and Nevis, the resolution was drafted by St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica and Antigua.

It says whales consume large quantities of fish, which those backing the overturning of the ban say makes whaling an issue of food security - a view dismissed by anti-whaling campaigners.

Tokyo believes whale numbers have risen sufficiently to allow the hunting of certain species.

But Japan's Deputy Whaling Commissioner Joji Morishita said any future commercial whaling would be on a much smaller scale than in the past.

"It's not going back to the commercial whaling, it should be the beginning of sustainable whaling, plus protection of depleted and endangered species," he said.

Guide to whale species
The slim victory for Japan followed its defeat in four other votes at the IWC meeting, including a proposal to end work on the conservation of small cetaceans such as dolphins and porpoises.

Environmental groups have accused developing countries of voting with Japan on whaling issues in return for money for fisheries projects - claims which have been repeatedly denied by all the countries involved, the Associated Press news agency says.

Currently, Japan and Iceland kill whales under an IWC ruling which allows nations to catch whales for "scientific research".

Norway, which formally objected to the 1986 ban, openly conducts commercial whaling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5093350.stm

Also, CNN released their own story about this, but it doesn't go into much detail

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/am...eut/index.html

What do you think about this? I really like to hear some opinions from people who come from the pro-whaling countries.

My opinion: I personally think whaling is disgusting because not only are they hunting endangered animals, but they are killing these highly intelligent animals in a way which can be very painful, thus the moritorium should be kept and i'm suprised at the fact that they won the vote, even if it was by a single vote.

[Niels]

Save the whales, kill the Japanese

[whispers]

I wonder what they would say if the whales would be the ones to hunt the japanese. . . (well there are many japanese what would half a billion of dead japanese harm?)it could even help the economy of some countries.
eye for an eye

[Godslayer Jillian]

....

Man, that was just racist.

[Corpsey]

I just found this, it frustrates me even more than the earlier article.

Whaling Nations Blame Whales for Fish Declines
John Pickrell in England
for National Geographic News

June 22, 2004
In nations such as Japan, Norway, and Iceland, whales are increasingly regarded as a pests competing with rapidly dwindling fisheries. The change in perception could have important implications for how whales are protected and their populations managed, according to a recent research article.

Despite the international moratorium on whaling agreed to by most governments in 1986, a handful of nations with a long history of whaling continue to hunt the marine mammals for research projects—and meat.

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"To nations with whalers, or to those currently reviving whaling, whales are no longer natural resources to be managed sustainably, but are competitors for fisheries," said the author of the article, conservation biologist Peter Corkeron of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Tromsoe.

Culls in Sight?

The governments of Japan and Norway now claim that species such as the minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) have rebounded to such numbers that they are a factor behind plummeting populations of fish hunted for human consumption the world over. The WWF last month said the global cod catch had dropped by 70 percent in the last 30 years and that cod could disappear completely within another 15 years if the trend continues.

"The logical extension of this idea is that whales should not be allowed to recover to environmental carrying capacity, but rather are in need of culling in the name of ecosystem management," Corkeron said.

He points to the example of how seal populations are managed in some North Atlantic nations as one possible scenario for the future control of whales—Canada allowed the culling of 350,000 seals earlier this year in a move it claimed was necessary to protect commercial fish stocks.

"As our impact on the oceans grows and fish disappear, our perception of how to share the reduced wealth of the oceans with whales is changing," Corkeron wrote in his in his article, which was published in the June edition of the science journal Conservation Biology. The article also called for debate in the scientific community on how whales are used as conservation icons and whether whale watching has a negative effect on the animals and the environment.

On May 18 of this year, Norway's parliament passed a resolution calling for a threefold increase in the hunting quota for minke whales, to preserve cod and other prey for fishers. A Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries report claimed that 5.5 million tons of fish are eaten by marine mammals in Norwegian waters, compared with just 2.74 million tons taken by Norwegian fisheries in 2002. "This indicates the competition between humans and marine mammals, which must be given considerable weight in managing these species," the report said.

Similarly, in February, Japan's delegation to a United Nation's fisheries meeting in Rome claimed that Japan's scientific whaling program in the North Pacific has revealed that whales are a significant competitor for fish stocks.

A Japanese Fisheries Agency spokesperson said that whales eat at least ten target species hunted by people, including Japanese anchovy and Pacific saury. Other figures suggested that whales and dolphins worldwide consume 300 to 500 million tons of marine food annually—three to six times the amount fished for total human consumption.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...fisheries.html

So they're blaming whales for all the over fishing? I simply find this as an excuse for the over fishing these countries have done.

Originally Posted by Niels

Save the whales, kill the Japanese

Why kill the Japanese? You gave no point as to why the Japanese population should die. While i detest the morals of the Japanese and Norway whaling companies (Norway, by the way, catches more whales than the Japanese according to the statisics on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling#Norway), i don't wish them death at all. And besides, if all the Japanese were gone, where would we get all the awesome advertisements from? Also, we wouldn't have bands like Dir en grey either.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Corpsey, he was just kidding. And it was quite funny.

[Corpsey]

Okiedo. I thought it was odd, but I didn't get the joke.

[Nardol]

Brings to mind one of my favorite movie quotes

"The taxidermy man, he gonna have a heart attack when he sees what I brung him!"

I'd go whaling but only if I could do it the old fashioned way with sails and oars and beautious polynesian girls on every island.

[Minyaliel]

We Norwegians have done this thing for several hundred years. Whale is considered a delicacy. I'm a veggie, so I can't state my opinion on it - but I honestly can't say I give a damn whether they're hunting them or not as long as it's for food.

[J.M.Lovechild]

Originally Posted by Minyaliel

We Norwegians have done this thing for several hundred years. Whale is considered a delicacy. I'm a veggie, so I can't state my opinion on it - but I honestly can't say I give a damn whether they're hunting them or not as long as it's for food.

I'm Scottish not Norwegian, but my Dad lives there with his Norwegian girlfriend and there daughter so i go there every year. I've been offered whale meat before at my step-auntie's house. It looked disgusting, but i declined on principal.

From what i've seen on the news etc, whaling does serious damage to the whale population. Because they are such long-living, slow-breeding animals they are not able to recoup their numbers quickly enough to balance death by hunting.

I know it may be traditional in some countries, but so is fox-hunting, wife-beating and cannabilism around the world. The three main countries in favour of whaling are Japan, Norway and Iceland. None of these countries are poor or lacking in food, there is no real reason to hunt whales for food.

[WizardElement5]

Killing whales is wrong because they have a high enough intellectual and emotional level to make each individual life important and its taking a "crime". I know most people think that such standards should only be applied to one species, humans, but that only goes to show how backward most people's thinking is. Just because we are the dominant species on this planet and therefore have the power, doesn't mean that we are the only species whose individual lives should be valued.

[Haex]

I agree; It's hypocritical to put a high value on human life but not on other intelligent species. It's not even a direct competition for food or life. The fishermen are simply valueing their fishing based income over the lives of the whales. Humans don't need to eat fish; Whereas for many species of whales, it's their staple.

The fishing industry worldwide is already subsidized highly, making up about 20% of their income. They simply need to cut their fleet. People will find new work. Humans are an adaptive bunch.