Whaling

[justinl]

Originally Posted by VFX

Better to find out how the hell these Whaling vessels are able to operate "legally" & try to stop it there instead.

How can they get permits to Whale in those waters under the research banner?

Why are international & Japanese/Norwegian governments not doing much to stop it?

Why is there still demand for whale products & foods in places like Japan?

Getting answers to these questions will help more than a few dozen stink bombs thrown aboard a whaling vessel.

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Japanese are allowed to operate legally because they whale under the guise of "research" purposes. Specifically, they are supposed to be taking stomach samples from their catches. Don't ask me where to find their results, if such a thing exists. They get the permission under this guise because it's profitable and the people in charge are uneducated. It's already been mentioned that one study found that whales eat a lot. And quite frankly, they do. That said, to say that they eat more than the world's annual catch? ehhh, sounds like bad science is afoot; and by bad, I mean the same political crap that always finds its way into some scientific studies (where funding comes from can greatly influence results). Anyways, people in charge think whales are stealing all their fish (which is already a skewed perspective in the first place), so of course they'll allow whaling to continue. people are more important after all right? right?

I don't think we have any right at all to be judging japanese (or anyone else's but our own) culture. Every culture has glaring faults depending on what angle you look at it from. Not only that, you also have to realize that lots of people are against this kind of crap over there as well. Stereotypes are easy to make, so we should tread lightly around that subject.

for the record, I fully support the work vessels like the Sea Shepard and Green peace does. It's not my style and i would never participate, but there will always be a necessity for the die hard direct confrontation type activists. It's important because it's public (though controversial) and it gets the message through a lot faster than a scientific paper. As for PETA... well let me just say "sea kittens" with a raised eyebrow. 'nuff said.

[VFX]

For the record...

1 - I never judged anybody's culture.

2 - I already know that some Japanese Whaling fleets operate legally as research vessels.

3 - You questions you quoted from me were not actually posed by myself in order to seek answers, but a list of questions that those wanting to stop whaling may want to address before going the route of illegal activities such as harassment & vandalism.

I do pose one more question though... (& I'm not looking an answer.)

Who are these 'people in charge' you talk about?

It sounds like they're the ones Sea Shepherd & such like should be directing their energies towards.

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[justinl]

sorry VFX, I didn't mean to direct any of my post towards anyone in specific. I only brought up the judgement thing because of the direction the thread seemed to be drifting towards. I only used that part of your original post to build my post off of, not to answer the somewhat rhetorical questions you posed. lol, I don't believe in rhetorical questions when I have an answer

the people in charge i referred to was the people who ultimately make the decisions whether or not to regulate fisheries. ie. government and international regulating bodies. Sea shepard serves a very specific role imo. it hits a different sector than lobbying parties (who go after the "people in charge"). Science usually targets them as well as opposed to trying to educate the public (consumers) and fishermen (producers); albeit science goes through a lot of middle men and gets a bit... muddled by the time it gets there. it's very much like a game of telephone.

[VFX]

no worries Justin

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