Not to get all environmentalist on you all, but over on Yahoo News has word that a whaling fleet from Japan intends to take 50 humpbacks alongside its usual quota of fin and minke whales which (under its agreement with the International Whaling Commission) Japan is allowed to take for purposes of “scientific research.”
However, there are three gaping holes in the Japanese whaling consortium’s logic: a) in their minds, whales must be killed to be “researched”; b) the meat harvested is later sold to consumers for a profit, and; c) the vast majority of Japanese citizens don’t eat whale meat anyhow.
Further, there is longtime evidence that Japan is buying votes among smaller IWC member nations (mainly Caribbean) by offering them financial aid in exchange for a council nod allowing Japan to keep whaling. And of course, if those other nations want out of the agreement, the cash from Japan is cut off.
Nice racket, huh? Sort of reminds you of the Akuza.
So in short, those advocating whaling in Japan (a small, but extremely vocal group) are using these loopholes to openly harvest whales.
But why such a passion over whaling in this part of the world? From what little I know, the renewed drive to whale in Japan is cultural – as during WWII many Japanese lived off eating whale meat, a diet some still see doing so as a form of nationalist pride despite the vast majority of modern-day Japanese wanting nothing to do with whaling.
So outside of Greenpeace continuing to harass Japan’s whaling ships, there seems little that can be done to stop their operations.
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