Ill-Tempered Whaling Talks Target Energy Sector

[Gyre]

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=5716310

Japan's acting like the US in the UN (my way or the highway). I say lets declare war on Japan instead of Iran.

Gyre

[hightime]

1. You need to use the original headline or the mods will lock the post.

[Gyre]

2. oops. My bad. Thx.

[Coventina]

3. WTF is wrong with the Japanese?

Why do they enjoy killing whales & dolphins?
I don't get it.

Norway is guilty of this as well.

[AngryAmish]

4. Maybe they are tasty?

I don't know, I never have tried it.

[Coventina]

5. So are humans, supposedly

Just because something is tasty doesn't mean it is ethically ok to eat it.

[AngryAmish]

6. What do humans taste like?

I have never had it. Well, nibbled a bit, and tasted, but not cooked human flesh for consumption.

[Coventina]

7. IIRC, cannibals report that human flesh is sort of like pork

However, my point was, that just because something is tasty, doesn't make it okay to eat it.

[TahitiNut]

16. Nope. "Long pig" tastes like chicken, according to cannibals.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1101616,00.html

[Coventina]

21. I guess "pig" is the part I remembered!

:D

[TahitiNut]

27. Yeah, me too. It piqued my interest so I looked for "long pig" to see

... if there was some interesting background. That's how I stumbled upon the Guardian article. :shrug:

[AngryAmish]

17. Mushrooms are tasty

Are they wrong to eat?

[Coventina]

19. Do you have a point?

Just wondering.

[AngryAmish]

22. No

[ladjf]

9. greed , arrogance and ignorance about the systemic design of

nature. The buy into the idea of "man's dominion over the Earth."

[northzax]

14. what's the difference?

seriously, if Minke Whales can be harvested sustainably, is that really any different from Salmon or Cod?

Why put these particular wild animals on a pedastal that we don't do with others?

[Coventina]

20. If you don't see a difference between salmon and whales

then we have nothing to talk about.

[northzax]

23. is it because whales are mammals?

seriously, tell me the difference. Why is it that some wild animals are acceptable as food but others are not? I really don't see that much of a difference between whales and salmon. or crabs, or lobster, or cod, or eels, or cows, or pigs, or sheep, or goats, or monkeys, or horses, all used as food by someone (and all of which, with the exception of monkeys, I have eaten.

honestly, tell me the difference. If we can harvest it sustainably, why not? they aren't anyone's pets, they aren't any more intelligent compared to humans, tell me the difference. Or can't you? have you just been so well trained by the various environmental groups (of which I belong to most and associated with several in different capacities) convinced you of the Charismatic Species theory, the idea that some species are superior to others simply because they are larger and more exotic?

Do you have any arguement besides an immediate dismissal of my viewpoint based on northern european cultural values? Do you believe that native american tribes should be allowed to hunt whales, the way they have been doing for a thousand years, or should we tell them "no, kill cows and pigs, they don't upset us as much." Should we tell a billion Hindus that their sacred animal (the cow, by the way) is ok to kill, but the whales are off the hook cause we like them?

[Judi Lynn]

8. Not much in this report you can use as a comedy base, actually.

Accusations by the International Fund for Animal Welfare that Japan was "buying votes" by paying aid to poor countries if the join the IWC provoked a furious backlash by Japan and its allies which demanded an apology from the campaign group.

Moderates in the anti-whaling camp say draft IWC plans to monitor a return to hunting are not stringent enough to prevent cheating and abuse. Hard-liners say whaling should never be allowed because of the risk to species and the cruelty to creatures believed to be intelligent and highly sentient.
(snip)

The IWC said it was "a matter of absolute urgency" to protect the whales, of which there is only one other colony on earth, off the western coast of North America.

The barnacle-encrusted gray whales, which grow to about 40 tonnes, have a huge migratory pattern, swimming some 15,000 miles in a round trip from their arctic habitats to mating grounds in the south.
(snip)

Thanks a lot, Gyre. Very sad news. Rotten to see adults acting like mindless a$$####$ over this subject. There is no endless supply of these creatures, utterly helpless against such horrendous threats. Once they're gone, there ain't no more.

[ladjf]

11. I heard a Japanese spokes person on TV last night.

He said that eating whale meat was part of Japanese culture and that it is unfair to try to deprive the Japanese from their cultural practices. God, was that lame! Another as...hole from Norway kept talking about how humane the killings were. You know, "they don't feel hardly any pain."

One large tuna is worth thousands of dollars on the market. Imagine how much a 20 ton whale is worth. We are talking about greed, thievery
, piracy of the ocean. They will steal a 40 year old whale that cost them nothing other than the fuel, crew and ship expenses. It's a major environmental catastrophe. It's depressing to still see evidence everywhere of man's ignorance, arrogance and out right stupidity.

Don't count on Bush putting up much opposition. He isn't exactly environmentally friendly. One either understands the systemic nature of existence or they don't and if they don't, they never will.

[hightime]

10. The Japanese would kill the last albino tiger if they thought eating its

dick would make their's one centimeter longer or harder for a half second longer.

Insane superstition for a country that has as much 21st century access as the Japanese.

[ladjf]

12. You have hit the nail right on the head.

[Coventina]

13. Same goes for the Chinese

I'm soooooo tired of hearing about species endangered by the "Asian Medicine trade".

[northzax]

15. I'm a little disturbed by the use of 'japanese' and 'chinese'

on this thread. like they're some monolithic tribe of barbarians. in fact ,the government of Japan force feeds whales to schoolchildren since the culture has lost it's commercial taste for it. and there are some chinese who eat endangered species. just as there are some Americans who are eating Chilean Sea Bass into extinction, and have eaten Cod and Swordfish out out viability. and when's the last time you saw wild bison?

[Coventina]

18. I wasn't around to complain about the bison at the time

and yes, I am equally concerned and disgusted by any thoughtless destruction.

If you'll notice, I included the Norweigens in my original post.

But the use of endangered animals in stupid traditional elixers will continue to enrage me even if it isn't "PC".

[northzax]

24. but Minke whales aren't endangered by anyone's calculation

they aren't on the IUCN Red List, for instance. in fact, since the cessation of large scale whaling by North Americans in the middle of this century, Minke whales have made an impressive comeback. By any count, there are more Minke Whales in the world than there are Bison, and yet I just bought a tasty bison Burger the other day. explain.

[hightime]

25. You can raise bison on a relatively small farm..try that with whales.

You really didn't need that explanation, did you?

As for the Norwegians, they have not been allowed to kill whales as long as the rest of the world. So can the Minke whale population handle the entire world hunting it again? As for tradition, the Norwegians had a cute little tradition going with all those Vikings and I think the survived giving that up.

[northzax]

26. sure, unfettered whaling might be damaging

but that's not the issue at hand. the issue aat hand is small scale whaling, fewer than 200 animals a year, completely sustainable. No one can yet givemea legitimate reason to stop it.

can you?

and we had a nice little thing doing with democracy, should we give that up if the rest of the world asks us to?