The Environment
It is beyond belief and utterly despicable that the god damn Japanese continue this barbaric ritual. I’m sure Dolt 45 will intervene any day now…
On Wednesday, Japan launched a new 12-year whaling program in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. For 2017, the program will target 43 minke whales and 134 endangered sei whales, enough for a total catch of at least six million pounds.
The total target numbers are lower than in years past: the take has gradually fallen from a peak harvest of 375 whales in 2005, in line with falling demand for whale meat among the Japanese public. Although numbers are down, animal rights groups are concerned that Japan plans to target sei whales, which are on the CITES 1 list of species that cannot be commercially traded.
Japan’s Institute for Cetacean Research harvests several hundred whales a year for what it describes as scientific purposes, then sells them to distributors for food, a revenue-generating program that underwrites a portion of its research. While Japan maintains that the program is conducted for legitimate scientific purposes, most foreign observers contend that the research is a form of diplomatic cover for commercial whaling, which is banned by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
The IWC and the International Court of Justice in the Hague have both concluded that the program does not contribute to scientific knowledge. (Norway and Iceland continue whaling for commercial purposes in spite of the ban, without describing it as research.) Read on.
