Say “No” to Japan’s Plan to Kill Humpback Whales

Say “No” to Japan’s Plan to Kill Humpback Whales

Famous for serenading the seas with their haunting melodies, the humpback whale has been protected since 1966, when it was on the brink of extinction from commercial whaling. But a new threat has emerged, as media reports indicate that Japan is now seeking to resume commercial whaling of humpbacks, defying international agreements and sanctuaries under the guise of “scientific research.”

Using a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific study, more than 25,000 whales have been killed since a worldwide ban on commercial whaling was passed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986. Yet it’s unnecessary to kill whales in order to study them, since non-lethal alternatives already exist. What's worse, some whales remain alive up to an hour after a harpoon explodes inside them. These cruel methods, first employed over a hundred years ago, are still used today.

At the International Whaling Commission meeting beginning July 20th, the world will vote on Japan's outrageous proposal to hunt humpback whales. Several countries remain undecided and are very sensitive to external opinion. With a little pressure, they can be swayed to protect the whales and stop Japan from slaughtering them.

That’s why it’s critical we tell the Swiss, Danish, Chinese and South Korean Ambassadors in our countries to oppose Japan’s plan to kill endangered humpback whales - before it's too late.

Sign the Petition

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Japan is interested in sustainable harvesting of whales. If Japan is refused, they may leave the IWC; there is growing pressure in Japan for such a move. Japan would no longer be bound by IWC regulations, quotas, etc.; they could resume whaling without any restrictions, though they're not interested in decimating whale populations. Japan's departure could also end the IWC's effectiveness in dealing with other whaling nations like Norway, who would have no pressure to respect IWC regulations or authority. Indeed, it could lead to the end of the IWC.

Be careful what you ask for, Lesley.

If you chop up a sentence, don't ask stupid questions about 'what'.

The facts are that your posts have not been rational. This one is not different.

Humpback whales are not in danger of extinction. When whaling was unregulated, they were. The entire purpose of the IWC is to understand more about whales so that we no longer pose a threat from unregulated harvesting.

That *requires* research.

Your characterizations of the Japanese Whale Research Project as a disguise for commercial whaling which supposedly takes advantage of some imagined loophole in the IWC regulations is abject ignorance and distortion on your part. It is not commercial whaling, and has never even approached either commercial proportions nor has it produced any profit. It has however produced by far some of the best peer reviewed cetacean research that exists! That is *not* a loophole in the IWC regulations but instead is the express intent of the IWC from day one.

(In fact, only one country has ever disguised a commercial whaling project as 'research'. That was the US effort to continue hunting Sperm whales when the ban was first put into place. No research was done, and the entire purpose was production of Sperm Oil for the US market.)

Every thing *you* eat has been killed. If that is not acceptable, suicide is your only recourse. Otherwise you are simply a hypocrite with nothing but silly commentary...

If you actually do care about Humpback whales you would support research that will help us understand what actually is a threat to them. That is essential, because by far the most serious threat to all endangered species is *not* hunting, but environment and loss of habitat. Without research we have no idea exactly what we are doing or not doing that will harm them. *You* may be doing things that will harm whales, unknowingly.

With a very healthy population of 30-40 thousand, there is no question that harvest of literally hundreds of Humpback whales per year would not be a threat. Therefore your concern about the Japanese Research Project taking only a few is simply a waste of breath.

Whales.

Japan has long said endangered species should be protected but that others, like the minke, are numerous enough to hunt.

Fisheries officials say research whaling has shown that the numbers of humpback and fin whales, the other species it would add, are rapidly rising as well, requiring broader surveys. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T284485.htm

The 'naturally occuring [sic] numbers' are rising.

For *eating*, which you find objectionable. You don't give half a shit that horses are being killed, either. You object only to their being eaten.

Well then. Argument over.

They have already been listed as a threatened species once.

' The story of this whale's name illustrates its blighted history. Minke was an 18th-century Norwegian whaler, infamous for regularly breaking the rules concerning the sizes (and therefore species) of whales that he was permitted at that time to hunt. Soon all the small whales became known as 'Minke's whales'. Eventually, it was formally adopted as the name for this small species.

In fact, because they are such a small whale, the whaling industry generally ignored the minkes until quite recently. As the larger whales became more scarce (and gained protected status), so minke whales became more economically attractive. In the North Atlantic, from the 1920s, whaling for this species has been conducted along the coast of Norway. This expanded, just before World War Two, to Spritsbergen, Shetland and the Faroe Islands and, more recently, the Barents Sea and Iceland. When whale populations dwindled in the late 1940s, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established to manage whale stocks. The IWC announced how many whales could be taken in any year, however, populations continued to decline. In 1985/6 a worldwide moratorium on whaling was put in place, banning all whaling. ... Like other cetaceans, minke whales are also threatened by degradation of their habitat. This may be caused by depletion of their prey, perhaps resulting from over-fishing, and pollution and global climatic changes. Climatic change could, for example, affect ocean currents and therefore the locality and abundance of the whales' prey. An unknown number of minke whales also become entangled in fishing nets each year. The significance of these threats is only poorly known. .. 'At what population size a whale population can actually be 'sustainably harvested', if at all, is also a point of debate, especially noting the present lack of understanding of other threats to these animals. Another consideration is whether or not whaling out on the high seas can actually be properly controlled. ' http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/minke.shtml

Non- whaling/fisheries associated research?

The population is, at best, beginning to make a recovery.

Nonsense. If the was killing necessary to survive I'd have no objection.

The humpback population is already at severely endangered level. 'Sustaining' anything near such a low level is far from acceptable.

End of story.

25,000 whales have been killed since the ban came into force in 1986..

The whales can't spare any more from their numbers right now.

And?

I know that whale meat consumption has been actively promoted in Japan.

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.. If that.

They're beginning to recover- that's all that statistic indicates.

1) So why did you ask 'what?' in the first place, pearl? 2) Sustainable, in the terms it is used by whaling nations means 'at better than present levels, or at the very worst (and incredibly unlikely) only the same levels'

Read the ICRW, pearl. This is what the anti-whaling nations have signed up to - it's written in plain english.

Do the maths, pearl. 25,000 whales in 19 years is just over a thousand whales a year, worldwide.

Tell me why this meagre level of whales is not sustainable.

'The whales' are doing just fine, as the whalers have been hunting abundant species up to this point. Most of the 25,000 whales you count were of the abundant minke species, which no serious conservation group would even label 'endangered'.

And, with a little common sense, and an understanding that the Japanese are just humans who want food too, you will easily understand and accept that without whales, Japanese people wouldn't be able to eat any, and they would be unhappy about that. Therefore, it's in their interests to conserve whale resources.

What do you think about that?

Errrrrr, yes, that is the whole point. At the end of the day, people make their own choices regardless of promotion.

10% doesn't represent the beginning of a recovery - the population is 'booming'. There is no reason why a tiny proportion of that extra 10% of whales could not be consumed every year by interested parties. This is what the ICRW is about.

4,073,759,000.00 JPY Japan Yen = 37,478,807.78 USD .

None of your claims cut it, Floyd. We know exactly what has caused the near extinction of these whales - human greed, and 'scientific research' is clearly a front.

What part of e n d a n g e r e d don't you understand?

Did whales somehow require 'scientific research' in the past to thrive - along with the rest of the ecosystem for millions of years? We know what's caused the damage!

Stop the killing.