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Japan Announces Withdrawal From International Whaling Commission, To Resume Commercial Whaling (straitstimes.com)
Japan is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will resume commercial whaling next year, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, in a move expected to spark international criticism. From a report: "We have decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling in July next year," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters. "Commercial whaling to be resumed from July next year will be limited to Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. We will not hunt in the Antarctic waters or in the southern hemisphere," Mr Suga added.
The announcement had been widely expected and comes after Japan failed in a bid earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling. Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the body and has been regularly criticised for catching hundreds of whales a year for "scientific research" despite being a signatory to a moratorium on hunting the animals. Mr Suga said Japan would officially inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, which will mean the withdrawal comes into effect by June 30. Leaving the IWC means Japanese whalers will be able to resume the hunting in Japanese coastal waters of minke and other whales currently protected by the commission. But Japan will not be able to continue the so-called scientific research hunts in the Antarctic that has been exceptionally allowed as an IWC member under the Antarctic Treaty.
The announcement had been widely expected and comes after Japan failed in a bid earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling. Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the body and has been regularly criticised for catching hundreds of whales a year for "scientific research" despite being a signatory to a moratorium on hunting the animals. Mr Suga said Japan would officially inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, which will mean the withdrawal comes into effect by June 30. Leaving the IWC means Japanese whalers will be able to resume the hunting in Japanese coastal waters of minke and other whales currently protected by the commission. But Japan will not be able to continue the so-called scientific research hunts in the Antarctic that has been exceptionally allowed as an IWC member under the Antarctic Treaty.
I tried raw whale last time I was in Japan. The only way I can describe it is that it was exactly how I imaged chewing on a used tampon would be.
I might try cooked whale next time, but I can't imagine it would be that good either.
I honestly can't imagine there is a huge market for whale meat. And my guess the market is about as large as the horse meant market in Japan. (Which I also tried raw in Japan and didn't enjoy it)
As long as it is only in Japanese territory their choice but how long they take to put the whale down should be taken into account, a cruel extended death should be banned and any method should require pretty much instant death for the whale. Not that I would eat whale or promote it's killing but prevention of cruelty to animals laws should apply.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Whalehunters do give money to Japanese politicians. Lots of money.
Japanese politics is all about money.
If this has a negative impact on the 2020 Olympics, then whaling will be banned just as quickly.
Whales shouldnÃ(TM)t be hunted for food at all. They are nearly extinct.
"Whales" comprise around 90 different species, some of which are endangered and some which are quite numerous.
Among the species which are classified by IUCN as Least Concern (i.e. not qualifying for a near threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered status) are Bowhead Whales, Southern Right Whales, Common Minke Whales, Humpback Whales, Grey Whales, and various dolphins.
The Minke whale, which is currently the most common catch for whalers, is quite abundant, with over 180,000 in the North Atlantic alone.
Animals hunted and used everywhere around the world. Species are going extinct all around the world. I don’t know why people act outraged when the cute or glamorous ones are the victims. So if we’re gonna be outraged about this, we should just probably stop destroying the planet in the 1000 other ways. “They” always claim we’ll slow down economic progress, disrupt economies, etc, but somehow they’re perfectly fine with automation, globalization and Walmart ruining your hometown, by saying new jobs and economies will develop. So, by the same logic, if we eliminated environmental destruction and animal exploitation, we’d have new earth friendlier economies emerge.
It is not strange at all. After WWII, occupied West Germany was plundered by the former Allies for a while, but with the start of the Cold War, the focus shifted from revenge to opposing the Soviet Union and the emerging Communist bloc. By the end of the 40s, the anti-Nazi policies were scrapped, the criminal past of the NSDAP members and the Nazi government officials was forgotten and forgiven, they were given prominent roles in the German "recovery", and a lot of money was poured into the German economy in the form of foreign aid.
Nothing like that happened in Japan until after the Korean war. The Japanese were basically left to starve for a whole decade by the US. When the occupation power was petitioned for help (which is their responsibility according to international law), the administration of McArthur suggested that Japan should hunt whale meat for satisfying protein deficiency. This is how the modern whaling came about.
They really don't. For a while Whale meat was essential for them to survive. But it is not particularly pleasant and not liked much even in Japan. The Japanese public in general are against whaling and don't like Whale meat. Their is a small aging (but influential population) that does want to keep it and more importantly don't like being told they can't have it.
Japan hates it. Schools won't touch it, neither will the poor. Oligarchs and politicians do, which is why their behaviour is strange. Mercury poisoning.
Whale meat is massively subsidized but ends up dumped or sold to Norway at a loss.
The subsidies are all that keep the industry profitable. Nobody sane wants the stuff.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Blue Whale numbers haven't risen significantly since whaling stopped and many species are on the Red List.
Most species that aren't are turning out to be multiple species, due to isolation. Right Whales are an example of that. By recategorizing according to genetics, sevwral whale species went from ok to critically endangered.
We still know nothing about the Lone Voice, the lonliest whale on the planet, other than he's the last of his kind.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It's not that the problems imposed by unfettered globalism are complex, it's that there are no solutions to those problems that are satisfactory to the majority of people living in developed nations. For example, a true globalist moves his factories from the US to China (Foxconn) to save 10 dollars in production costs per piece, and then considers moving again to Vietnam because there are factory workers there willing to work for even less. This creates a problem for people who work in manufacturing jobs in the US and see those jobs moving to Asia. And no, not everybody is an MIT graduate that can work in the design department of Apple, some people want to work in manufacturing. Then there is the other problem of "open borders" bringing in too many people who are capable of only for menial jobs and can't even speak the local language, and there is already an overabundance of labour for these kinds of jobs in developed nations, and automation will reduce demand for such jobs anyway. Again, no solutions that are satisfactory to the citizen of a developed nations exist for that problem, and the only "solution" is to throw money at the problem that could be spent towards the native citizens. So, the solution that is chosen by most voters is to back out of unfettered globalism and impose tarrifs and closed borders. Unfettered globalism proponents should propose proper solutions instead of engaging in nonsensical smear campaigns against nationalism.