
Japan resumes commercial whaling after 30 years - pseudolus
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48821797
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Grue3
Faroe Islands and Norway catch more whales than Japan [1] but for some reason
don't receive nearly the same level of outrage.

[1]
[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whales_Nordic.png](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whales_Nordic.png)

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sandworm101
That another country is also evil doesn't make what Japan is doing any better.
They both need to stop.

There is increasing evidence that whales have a huge role in climate change.
Their poop feeds plankton which in turn absorbs carbon. And their physical
bodies when they die sink, moving significant amounts of carbon to the bottom
where is stays in that ecosystem far away from the atmosphere.

If the Japanese and Norwegians don't care about killing such magnificent
animals for food, perhaps they can be taught to value them as ecological
partners in the fight against climate change.

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pathseeker
> That another country is also evil doesn't make what Japan is doing any
> better. They both need to stop.

While true, it looks bad for people who are on the fence and/or are
ambivalent. If the people expressing the outrage aren't outraged about the
whaling in the Faroe islands, it looks like they don't really care about
stopping whaling but instead just want to protest for the sake of it (or
they're racists against the Japanese, etc).

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sandworm101
It is true that I am probably not angry enough about the Faroe whale
slaughter, but they are much further away from me than Japan. I live on
Canada's west coast, where Greenpeace began. There are far more flights
between Vancouver and Tokyo than Vancouver and the Faroe Islands, and many
more business and government connections. So it should be no surprise that I
am more angry at Japan.

I am also no fan of the Canadian arctic whale harvest. That it is classified
as "aboriginal whaling", and is much smaller, makes no difference to me. Dead
whales are dead whales regardless who is killing them.

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mtnGoat
I believe there are still occasional whale hunts in the strait of juan de
fuca, by the Makah Trube from Neah Bay.

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baud147258
Note that "scientific" whaling by Japan hadn't stopped during that time frame;
I put scientific in quotes because its scientific value was discutable

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rasz
They were researching the number of whales a whaling ship can hunt per season.

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Hamuko
I always thought it was to figure out how small of a tin can you can fit a
whale in.

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ianbicking
I had hoped when there was an exposé about whale meat, poisoned with heavy
metals, being fed to students that this would discourage the practice in
Japan: [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-
whalemeat/whalemeat...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-
whalemeat/whalemeat-in-japanese-school-lunches-found-toxic-idUST6359120070801)

Sadly no. (I also got the impression that people didn't want to eat whale
meat, which was why it was being foisted onto kids.)

Do the countries that hunt whales test the whale meat systematically?

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mcguire
" _" I'm a bit nervous but happy that we can start whaling," one whaler told
AFP news agency before setting sail. "I don't think young people know how to
cook and eat whale meat any more. I want more people try to taste it at least
once."_"

I don't know that whale meat is economically viable.

~~~
magduf
""I'm a bit nervous but happy that we can start selling tobacco," one
tobacconist told AFP news agency before opening shop. "I don't think young
people know how to chew and smoke tobacco any more. I want more people try to
smoke it at least once.""

If schools were giving out free samples of tobacco, marijuana, heroin, meth,
etc., and urging kids to try it, how well would that go over?

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pintxo
Some of the kids might actually like that and start asking for more. Regarding
whale meat, I am not so sure.

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llamathrowaway
While we are at it, let’s pay some attention to the overfishing of other
species: for example, the cod fishery in northwest Atlantic collapsed in the
last century, and stock of bluefin tuna has fallen by over 70%, according to
Wikipedia.

I am not suggesting that whaling is not harmful to the environment. But for me
overfishing of tuna etc is much more dangerous because of its scale and
economic impact. We need to find a way to fish sustainably, before the ocean
ecosystem is damaged beyond repair and we lost our fisheries forever.

~~~
an_account_name
As they say it’s not “but”, rather “yes, and” so I agree with that and would
add that the likely sentience of whales is a huge factor here.

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opwieurposiu
"A stove boat or a dead whale." ― Herman Melville

This should be the bargain. If you are going to hunt whales, the whales should
have a chance to hunt you back. Require the use of oar powered wooden
whaleboats, hand thrown harpoons, manila ropes. There is no sportsmanship in
the way the japanese do it now.

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bballard
Exactly! Not just wooden boats -- cedar boats.

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java-man
boats? shouldn't the whalers swim?

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meesles
I see nothing wrong with sustainably farming whales like any other animal.
Certain species have been endangered and those should be protected, but
responsible consumption of traditional foods is an important way to preserve
culture.

~~~
ben_w
From what I’ve gathered, Japanese whaling is about as traditional as British
rule of Africa, India, and America.

Although the article quotes a hunter claiming their village has done it for
400 years, it also later says “A number of coastal communities in Japan have
hunted whales for centuries but consumption only became widespread after World
War Two when other food was scarce.”

Also, whales aren’t being farmed, they’re just being hunted.

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ufmace
What is the correct amount of time for a tradition to exist before it deserves
to be protected?

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magduf
There's no tradition that should ever be protected just because it's a
tradition.

If people want to do something that's a tradition and is totally harmless,
that's fine, but then it shouldn't need any protection. You only need
"protection" because there's some reason the tradition can't continue without
it.

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kbos87
Doesn’t this sort of amount to an admission that all the years of hunting in
the Antarctic under the guise of research were in fact commercial whaling?

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moate
They were researching whether anyone would stop them from becoming commercial
whalers.

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ohso
Just in time! The humpback whale is just starting to recover its population.

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kpU8efre7r
If whales are hunted sustainably what is the big deal? I am genuinely asking
why whales are off the menu but other mammals and fish are not.

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NeonTiger1992
"My heart is overflowing with happiness, and I'm deeply moved," said Yoshifumi
Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association. "People have hunted
whales for more than 400 years in my hometown."\- Just because something has
long-standing traditions, doesn't mean that should be continued.

We used to burn people for witchcraft and did so for a long time.

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booleandilemma
What if we allow people to hunt whales, but they have to do it using 17th
century technology, so that it’s not easy to overhunt?

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dTal
This is the perfect rejoinder to "but muh cultural heritage". If you want to
break out the "400 year old tradition" argument, you shouldn't get to use
modern industrial whaling technology.

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ixtli
Ah, the murderous cocktail of traditionalism and capitalism.

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dang
Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here.

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sabertoothed
Shame on you, Japanese government. Shame on you.

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theseadroid
It's not like that Japanese government is consuming the whale meat. So why
only blame it? seems deliberately missing the target.

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elif
Because consumers aren't capable of international treaties, which is the only
mechanism that ended whaling.

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theseadroid
Consumers are well capable of voting in Japan though, isn't it?

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Zenbit_UX
Was their a we shouldn't hunt whale referendum or are you being deliberately
obtuse?

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SkyBelow
It appears that stopping whaling isn't popular enough for candidates to run
based upon it, or if they do, not enough of them win. That puts it back on the
voters.

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favorited
Disgusting. Time to make another Sea Shepherd donation, I guess.

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lelima
What can the Whaling Association do about it?

They have any power what so ever? something like EU and Brexit?

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ben_w
From what I’ve read, they have vastly less power than the EU. But it is
similar in the sense that you are always allowed to leave at any time. Unlike
Brexit, I don’t think there’s any significant tidying up or trade relations
involved.

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galkk
I strongly believe that __any __wildlife hunting /fishing should be
prohibited, no matter if it's recreational or for selling.

If it isn't grown specifically for farming/hunting/fishing on a
farm/elsewhere, then hard no. Wildlife just doesn't has any chance against
modern technology.

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exabrial
This is a pretty uneducated world view. Some species population is purely
controlled by their food supply, predators, or disease vectors, eg: deer.
They're a massive pestilence in many areas because humans have displaced their
natural predators, increased their food supply, and have reduced diseases. As
a result, it's incredible important to thin their numbers in a cycle that
would mimic the course of natural cycles. That's why Rifle and Bow seasons
issue are carefully permitted and populations are counted all year. Hunters
are the single largest group in the USA contributing to preservation of
habitat.

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drak0n1c
Yes, if humans have adopted an ecologically vital role as an apex predator in
certain spaces (like with hunting deer, boar, or fishing certain species), we
shouldn't artificially remove ourselves from the ecosystem.

