Japanese Whaling

[Quest]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5091674.stm

We've talked about eating dogs, what's your opinion on whaling?

[Shadowdh]

Hi Quest...

Personally as long as there is a limit that allows the population to grow (not just maintain) then I dont have too much problem with it...

My problem lies with the disneyfication of the animal kingdom... what I mean is that with all the movies out that attribute human thought and feeling to animals too many people now days see animals as people or at least like people... it reminds me of the Gary Larsen farside cartoon of the cows that are standing around talking with one on look out who suddenly says "car" and then they all drop to the ground eating grass...

[skunkpuppy]

i think whales shouldn't be eaten because they can't be farmed. waaay too big! most other animals can be, so at least the wild population is not harmed.

[md1101]

I am against it. i admit i eat meat but i believe you can certainly say there are certain animals you should and shouldn't eat based on their intelligence and even their beauty. and the method of killing is certainly important as well. whales are one of the more magnificient animals and said to be quite intelligent compared to other animals (like cows for example).

but what i dislike more is the method of killing them. the article states some take as long as 30 minutes to die and the average time to death was 10 minutes. The groups against whaling have this as one of their main reasons against whaling - that is the method of death. "It's simply impossible for the harpooner to hit the whale close enough to the brain to ensure a reliable clean kill in all cases." - from that article

for the same reason i will only buy organic products and tend to stay away from pork altogether. sure i think that perhaps humans are carnivores and we are possibly supposed to eat meat but i certainly dont believe in torturing animals before eating them. if you know how factory farming works you'll know what i mean.

i think we kill enough animals for meat as it is so lets not add another majestic one such as the whale to the list.

[HashiriKata]

Still can't help it, Quest?

[flameproof]

It should be stopped because it's nonsense and makes no commercial sense.

Firstly, whale meat taste very bad and is tough to eat

Secondly, Japan has over 2000 in frozen warehouses and can't get rid of it.

Japan does promote whale meat, but it simply does not taste good, and most japanese know that. There is very little demand for the product. It does not make much commercial sense.

[doumeizhen]

Well, a lot of things don't make economic sense, but that just isn't the kind of world we live in. People will pay for luxuries.

As much as I hate to admit the above, as I hate hate hate Capitalism, I hate what I am about to say even more, as it very clearly points to the fact that I am a miserable vegetarian: Whale meat isn't that bad. I have no idea where it came from, and maybe the Japanese can't get rid of their reserves because its not fresh... Who knows.

Ultimately, I would learn towards: don't kill whales because its unsustainable and cruel, but so is the rest of this world*... where do we draw the line?

* Al Gore's film: An Inconvenient Truth does a good job of addressing this.

[Mugi]

Firstly, whale meat taste very bad and is tough to eat

That's merely your opinion. I happen to like it...

Japan does promote whale meat, but it simply does not taste good, and most japanese know that.

Most Japanese I know would say it's neither here nor there. Some people (like myself, though I'm not Japanese), would order it as sashimi every now and again for a change, but otherwise wouldn't choose to eat it.

There is very little demand for the product.

True. But wait until the marketing execs decide to really push it...

Secondly, Japan has over 2000 in frozen warehouses and can't get rid of it.

Where does this info come from? Despite likeing raw whale meat, I'm actually totally anti-whaling, so would like to know where I can find some solid ammunition.

[roddy]

Surely every nation has foods which are unpalatable to anyone else though. I mean, haggis! Guga!

I don't think whales are too big to farm, they just grow too slowly - you'd be looking at yeeeeeeears before a return on your investment.

[liuzhou]

Haggis farming is much more sensible. I'm thinking of opening one here in Guangxi!

[md1101]

yeap thats the problem roddy. they grow slowly and breed slowly so if demand ever picks up you can be damn sure whaling will become a large threat to their existence... which would be very sad indeed... and probably effect the oceans eco system...

considering demand isnt particularly high now i really wish these whalers would focus all their energies on something else.