Canadiangirl88 comments

Japan’s annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary – a hunt which targets more than 900 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales each year. Many Nations participated in commercial whaling throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. However by the 1960s most of the world’s whale populations had been decimated and in many places it was no longer economically viable to hunt whales. Since 1986 the International Whaling Commission has imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in an effort to support the recovery of whale populations. To enhance this effort the IWC established the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994. This was to provide whales with a safe haven from commercial whaling within their Antarctic feeding grounds. Japan, however, opposes the sanctuary and because the sanctuary only applies to “commercial whaling”, Japan continues to hunt whales claiming that it is done for scientific research(Everyone knows this is not for research they wouldnt have to kill them to research them).The lessons from past whaling may help to shed some light on the sustainability. During 1940 – 1960 Australian whalers reduced East Coast Humpback whale numbers to < 5% of their original population in just 14 years. Since the moratorium on whaling this population has recoverd by 10 – 20% per year and is now estimated at ~8000 whales. However, New Zealand and Fiji Humpback populations have shown little or no recovery. The recovery of other species has also been negligible. The antarctic blue whale still sits at only 3% of it pre-whaling numbers. The sustainability of Japan’s annual hunt on fin whales is doubtful. After the blue whale, fin whales are the largest of the whales and are presently classed as endangered with their population still at only 30% of their pre-whaling numbers. During the early 1900s whaling efforts targeted larger species of whales, such as the blue, fin, & humpback. It was not until the 1970s that the smaller minke whale was hunted – this was due to the depletion of large whale populations.

Volcanoes can change their eruptive behaviour at any time so how are they able to predict what's going to happen here?

its a jaywalking ticket im sure its not going to break his bank account stop your whining Robbie Bobbie you've got other issues to address!

Its very frustrating to me that we as humans put other people down for being emotional about this! I cant understand why people think its wrong to stand up for something that cant protect itself! We as humans have the power to save these animals from torture and abuse! They do not deserve to be kept in tanks for our entertainment and they certainly dont deserve to be netted off have their spinal cord severed to thrash around and drown in a sea of blood NOTHING IN THIS WORLD DESERVES THAT! They are smart and social just like us how would you like to be put in a net with all your friends and family and then have a harpoon stuck down your throat and watch everyone you care about die? OH and if you were luck enough to be the pretty one then you might survive to be sold to sea world or something and live the rest of your life alone just so people could come and watch you jump around in a bath tub!:(