Whaling meeting ends with mixed results

It's disfunctional, let people hunt wales off their coastline. it's a cultural thing ( their argument, not mine) but ban traveleling half a world away to do it. Sometimes you have to let dumbarses be dumbarses. It's like a Nuclea industry having no effective over site, kill anythig you can see from land, but please don't chase it over the horizon. Win win

I have no problem with indigenous subsistence whale hunting. My problem is with countries like Japan and Korea wanting to hunt whales purely for profit. If Japan pulls out of the IWC it will be a good thing because it will mean they are no longer protected and the real anti-whaling games will begin.

Seems arbitrary that Russia Alaska and st Vincent get subsistence whaling for "indigenous" ppl, but Greenland did not.

Whatever, these kinds of bodies are arbitrary anyway.

I am betting we will get 70-80 posts on the good the bad and the ugly of whaling. I will save you all the hassle.

"They are sentient" "They are cute" "They are endangered"

vs.

"They are tasty" "It's jpns culture" "What do you mean they are sentient! How about dogs in Korea or cats in Philippines?"

I will probably not eat very much whale in the future, personally. Too much mercury. And since poisons seem to accumulate in apex predators, I am sure the Fukushima radiation is beginning to get into the whales... But that's just me. Don't care what you lot do!

Lowly - Actually, the meat from baleen whales is quite pure and toxin free because they feed at the bottom of the food chain. It is the meat from toothed whales and dolphins that contains many toxins and heavy metals, wherein lies the problem with Japan. The Japanese do not distinguish between toothed or baleen whales and it is all labeled the same. I would not eat it and refuse to let my kids eat it. Many (wise) Japanese people have the same opinion. Unfortunately, the way Japanese society is, it takes events like Minamata and Fukushima before the general population of japan get off their butts and protest.

A whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic would have been the obvious solution, but this was rejected????? Indigenous whaling from those coastal communities to be allowed , what was hard about that not getting passed????? So another load of waffle, all talk no action. It would be really interesting to see the true cost, of how much the japanese government has spent to date, to protect its commercial whaling

Commercial whaling is dying on it's own without international governing bodies. Norway hasn't caught their self established limits in years, Japan can't sell the meat they produce now. Indigenous peoples are so few, they wont make a dent in whale populations.

marcelito-

No that wouldn't work. If you can't reproduce the results with your own experiment, it wouldnt be scientific!!

disillusioned,

I was just going to ask you how to tell it is baileen whales, but I guess you can't. Weird, I thot I saw types of whales labelled in the supermarket.

Whale loving nations and people should really stop pushing their morality on Whale eating cultures.... They can hunt whales if they want.

It all comes down to economics. Whale meat is a niche market (a dwindling niche market at that). Whale meat consumption is down in all commercial markets. If not for the government subsidies in Japan (research whaling) the whaling the industry would go belly up instead of the whales. Norway sets a quota of about 1000 minke whales a season but have only harvested around 500 for the last few years. Retailers in Norway and Iceland normally do not carry whale meat because it not economical. It's simple: No market, No whaling.....when was the last time you say a buggy whip maker? When was the last time you saw someone burning whale oil in a lamp?

techall

If it's about the economics, then let the markets decide by lifting the moratorium and the subsidies dissappear thereby the loss will be incurred by the industry and not the tax payers.

@Nigelboy:

EXACTLY!!

There is much more subsidies in agriculture in EU than whaling in Japan. The truth of the matter is that the whaling industry is not such a big business compared with the fishing industry, therefore not sure what all this fuss is about. But there will always be a place for the whaling indusrty as there are people who actually enjoy eating whale meat. Anti whaling countries want to ban all whaling because they don´t eat whale meat and feel the need to change other people´s eating habits. I am sure more people in Japan have become interested in whale and dolphin meat due to the sheer arrogant racist attitudes of anti whaling countries and movies such as the Cove.

People in Greenland, Norway, Iceland hunt whales and whales are used as dog food. It is clean organic dog food. DOn´t think it is worse, actually I think it is better to hunt wild animals than to raise an animal then kill it for dog food. Much more energy efficient not to say more eco friendly just to go out in the ocean and shoot some big fat ones than to raise an animal.

How rich of countries such as Australia with it´s racist attitudes to tell other and Japan that they should only hunt whales near their shores when they export thousands of tons of beef to Japan each year. WHy is it that only whale meat can be hunted locally yet cow feed can be exported from South America to North America and that meat exported to Japan? Which is less energy efficient, what is worse for the global environment?

How USA can support Native Americans hunting whales but not Japanese. The double standards is despised by both the Japanese and the Native Americans. One set of rules for one and a different for others. Do as we say, not as we do. This culture imperialist stance is outdated.

They treat whales completely different than any other animal on this planet.

Sorry sustainablewhaling but that statement is completely wrong! Elephants and Tigers (to name two animals) receive the same protection. Using the argument that it's a tradition for hunting whales is a poor argument, it would be like saying that elephants need to be harvested for the ivory because it is tradition for piano keys to be made of ivory. The international community said no more hunting these animals and except for poachers the rest of the world complies. So yes it is acceptable for other countries to "push their morals" on to another country to protect an animal in danger of extinction. People have learned to live with out ivory, people can find other sources of meat including the indigenous peoples receiving special permission, the governments of the U.S. and Russia have the capability to provide meat to these people.

That Whaling for meat is a tradition is some counties is not an "argument" and neither a good one or poor one, it; is simply a substantiated fact. The Whaling countries are interested in harvesting non-endangered species. So much for protecting those at risk of "extinction". The anti-whaling nations are interested in gthe elimination of all whalig of all species because they habe the deranged notion that they are somehow "special" among all the species of animals that we already consume.

Why else travel half way across the globe?

Because that's where the largest population of minke whales are. (Southern Ocean)

So they can keep whaling there until there's not enough whales for them to catch?(like their shorelines)

So they can keep whaling there until there's not enough whales for them to catch?(like their shorelines)

No. Minke whales are classified as Least Concern under IUCN. As for the Minke Whales in Southern Ocean (Balaenoptera bonaerensis), there is a reason why some called them "Southern Minke Whales"

'Of least concern' now may undergo transition into 'of medium or high concern' in let's say twenty, forty years time...or is that not of our (current generation's) concern?

The anti-whaling nations are interested in gthe elimination of all whalig of all species because they habe the deranged notion that they are somehow "special" among all the species of animals that we already consume.

That statement is indeed the stance of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherds but I have never heard a government say that, anti-whaling governments only say that whales are endangered and therefore need to be protected like any other endangered species.

Those who claim "Tradition" for hunting whales need to keep the hunt in their own backyard, so to speak. Going half-way around the world to hunt is not a tradition it's economic greed. It is obvious the only reason to vote down the South Atlantic Sanctuary is because of planned expansion into that area in the future when the stocks in the current hunting areas run out for over-hunting.

Sorry made a typo. . . . run out FROM over-hunting.

I would not mind local whaling at all. It is a country's right to do so and should be an internal issue. Even though I don't agree with the way that the whales are killed, that has nothing to do with it.

The anti-whaling nations are interested in gthe elimination of all whalig of all species because they habe the deranged notion that they are somehow "special" among all the species of animals that we already consume.

I know some extreme groups may claim that. But I don't think most people feel that way at all. That is nonsense that some extremist might say and that is something that pro-whlaers use to shove in their faces. I am against whaling for how it is done. And I don't trust the fox to tell me how many chickens are in the hen house. Nor do I trust the chickens either. Both have a vested interest in telling a tall tale.

Lets face it the IWC has no power to enforce anything, it is all voluntary by the member nations. Whales will soon be extinct because of greed. The whaling nations say they will hunt with-in quotas, but that is only lip service, there will always be the attitude but greedy hunters that one or two extra won't hurt a thing, except multiply that by hundreds of hunters and it becomes too much extra. I hope the governments that allow indigenous hunting have plans in place to feed those people when the whales run out.