Slashdot Mirror
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.
The UK does not hunt whales. Why can't you copy that, too?
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.
Ah yes "research" whales that just happen to end up in the fish markets.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
https://youtu.be/4u_G8L-BIHU
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.
Even in Japan there isn't much of a market for it, it is not something people enjoy eating and was traditionally only eaten as a source of food when there was not much else. There have been stories about how even much of their "scientific" whaling meat gets wasted as it isn't popular.
Well if theres not much of a market for it less whales get killed. Win win problem solved.
"This research is delicious!"
Japan has a strange obsession with whale meat.
Table-ized A.I.
What is the difference between hunting whales and all the other animals we eat (besides tastiness level but that's opinion based)? Never understood why this is an issue or why it keeps coming up. Could you imagine if there was a Muslim community pressuring the world not to eat pig and being able fine those that do? Or a Hindu one for cow? Wouldn't go over well. So they just don't eat it and stay out of our dietary business. Why are whales an exception? I have had whale bacon, whale curry, and whale steak just to try it (and piss off hippies) but honestly wasn't a fan. That being said, there are clearly people that do like it and a market so to each their own.
doesn't work that way in Japan sadly. The government will support the industry to keep it going so they don't lose face.
No, get real, if a shoe company or box company started losing money permanently do you think they'd stay open for giggles, especially if nobody liked these shoes or boxes? No companies going to keep whaling if theres no money in it. Crazy activists on the other hand will stick with their causes no matter what. Thats why they ban mammoth ivory even though it could save the elephants.
Japan has kept them open losing money for 30 years now in the guise of scientific whaling. Various Industries all over the world are funded by governments while making a loss with no real prospect of ever turning a profit.
No, get real, if a shoe company or box company started losing money permanently do you think they'd stay open for giggles
If the shoes or boxes are in fact generating nationalist giggles, then yes.
That would remain true if their gross sales were actually low. If you put a camera in people's faces, do they pretend to like it? Then yes, easy call. They would do it.
the Japanese people need to stand up and be counted...
is this acceptable for the government of japan to deplete stocks and allow China to take the moral high ground ?
Japanese politics is all about money.
What a strange thing to say - and American (or any democratic / capitalist) politics isn't about money?!
There's probably no other country in the World who is as well funded by large corporate interests as USA - look up lobbying (bribing).
Don't let yourselves be burdened by the know-nothing western leftards.
I also say we bring back whaling, let's just give it a try.. My parents whaled on me when I was a kid, and I turned out ok.
The only source that insinuates that there is no demand is from antiwhaling propaganda. Japan for its part says its not profitable simply because they by definition don't allow a profit since its supposed to be scientific. Why not let them whale? They only hunt common species. If theres no demand like you say they'll eventually get bored of it as the old people die off and problem solved. On the other hand high demand means the Japanese will have an incentive to pour billions more into research and funding than whiny envirowackos are willing to do to save and increase whale populations of those they hunt and those they want to hunt bringing more delicious tastes and delectable food options into the world cuisine.
In fact the only whale delicacy served is thin, very expensive, slices of kujira no tama, or testicle. There is no dietary reason why they would want to resume large scale whaling.
No it isn't the only source at all. Their have been studies done both in and external to Japan. Whale meat is Bland and smells bad when cooking, it was only ever consumed during times of food shortages and is pretty much hated in all but a tiny percentage of the population there. The problem becomes the Government happy to perpetuate a dead industry just to save face, thousands of whales will die and other countries will use this as an opportunity to start up the industry again be it for the perfume industry, the whale oil or ancient remedies.
Fosdil fuels lose so much, they need a 23 trillion dollar subsidy every year. Don't see them closing.
No, government egos are quite capable of keeping the undead animated. The whaling industry is such a zombie.
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)
No, they don't make money. Neither side does. Whalers are given money, they don't make it, and protestors lose money.
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)
Whales have territories, no different from humans, only whales can't move due to food and temperature constraints.
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)
I've eaten grilled shark steak. Very tasty! Whales are sort of like sharks so I expect whale meat is very tasty too.
Wut?!?!
Yeah, not really. They're just about as far apart as jawed vertebrates can be.
Understanding basic biology isn't one of your strengths, I take it.
Who ever said "make money" is the sole reason that everything happens? Seriously, there are other motivations, people. Look into them.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
One day we might get some independent data on the amount of radionuclides in Japanese fisheries considering the amount of radioactive effluents the ongoing Fukushima disaster is putting into their food chain. I wouldn't be surprised if they know all this and opening up options for themselves.
The volcanic region made seafood a rich harvest for Japan and now they have poisoned it. Bio-accumulation of radionuclides in the food chain is real no matter how much Japan suppresses information. It will continue to poison the Pacific until we take the clean-up effort away from TEPCO and make it an international issue that we address with maximum priority to stop it spreading any further.
That would be the honorable thing to do.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Wow, another one of those "it swims in the Ocean, so it's fish" people. Get an education, ffs.
His campaign to diminish experts and abuse the environment have been a source of inspiration for lunatics the world over.
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)
And America ranks badly on corruption, pollution, destruction of endangered species, destruction of areas of special scientific interest, destruction of history...
That it's the same in every othet corrupt nation shouldn't be a shock.
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)
Horse steak is pretty good and you can put pretty much anything in sausage. There's still a big, not very animal friendly, horse meat industry in Europe and Argentine.
Southerm Right Whales turned out to be two distinct species, a few years back. The list has not been updated to reflect that, yet, but the two species have about half the numbers in each.
It makes a huge difference.
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)
I live in Spain, I can think of at least four shops within 100 yards that only sell horse meat.
(I live next door to a big food market)
No sig today...
This will make America look great by comparison, therefore conspiracy.
No sig today...
Corn in the US is one such industry. Itâ(TM)s crazy how much tax is spent on it. And then it goes right into unhealthy foods.
Except it is easy to turn up the marketing so everyone would want it.
Being the amount of meat you can get from one whale, it makes them a rather profitable target for hunting. The profit from a caught whale is worth upgrading a normal fishing ship to a whaling ship.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
My guess is that whaling in Japan is similar to coal in the US. Both are dying industries that still have enough political clout to get money from the government to prop up their businesses and keep them going long past when they should have died.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
The problem is in the US we mostly raise Horses as Pets, some farmers use them for utility purposes, such as ranching, but that can be replaced with ATV, however they keep Horses for mostly personal reasons, So eating them just seems wrong.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
They subscribe to ancestor worship, Buddhist doctrine. That the movies of The Superstar became an unlikely hit in Japan, much liked by the older generation shows they have some strong value system not visible to the West.
So, it is particularly disappointing that they don't value whales and they seem to condone exterminating a species. Hope something changes and they begin to see whales in a different light.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Well it isn't the Republicans Fault, there is a global trend towards nationalism, and regressing back into the old traditional ways, even if we don't know what they are, or why they were followed to begin with.
There are a lot of stresses happening to world society today, many of them are bigger then any one country and these problems are not limited to particular borders. These complex problems are way too abstract for average citizen. So our primal urge of when there is a problem that we cannot confront, Hide in a deep dark cave and close the opening is in place. This urge means things like closed borders, doubling down on traditions, grouping together with people most similar to yourself. And basically try to reset society back to a time where you had felt good with.
The problem is our instincts are not the best course of action for the problem. It is like an opossum playing dead on a busy street. These are problems that require work, planning, sacrifice and thought to solve. Not a gut feeling.
But because it is so stressful many people gut feeling is a strong motivation.
Now in America Row v Wade and the Abortion debate with Region (a source strongly tied to old traditions) Democrats decided to go on the Pro-Choice side, while the Republicans went on the Pro-Life side. This connected many of the religious groups to the Republicans. Which lead to a lot of people who value traditions and the old way to that party. Turing its culture to what we see today.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Their actual plan is to get us down to only 2 humpback whales, in the hopes of attracting starships from the future. They can then capture one and harvest the technology.
It's sad to have to destroy such an intelligent animal into pieces--to prove the point that it's not so different than killing wales.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
If by "subsidy" you mean not taxing fossil fuels to oblivion then let me tell you this is not what a subsidy is. Fossil fuels will remain the most affordable source of fuel for the next decade (but probably not the decade after that), so any rollback of existing taxes whose sole purpose was to deprive individuals of this cheap source energy is a good thing. Not everyone is a commie living in a cold apartment and without access to a car.
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.
Apparently everything needs to be simple enough for you to grasp or it just doesn't exist.
Will have to make a return time voyage to stop them.
Has anyone considered working with the whales on how they can defend themselves? Just a thought.
However the problem isn't globalism. Because you are even explaining how all these countries are failing their manufacturing workers, by playing the "Race to the bottom" game. There has been growth in US manufacturing, mainly due to investments in technology. The US let its manufacturing infrastructure slide, the US has been and still is good at making BIG Items. Cars, Trucks, Industrial equipment. Asia once rebuilt after WWII, had took on making small things. The US had no problem with this, because small things were the cheap stuff that they couldn't get staff to run an efficient company anyways, and BIg things were was all the money.
However as we moved from industrial to technology economy. The small things were no longer toys and trinkets. But vital parts of the economy. And Asia manufacturing was prepped to make such tiny things. While the US still likes to make big things. The US can try to make small things with limited success, however it doesn't have the support infrastructure for it, so it is more expensive. Employee wages are only a minor part of the equation.
Without globalization the United States probably wouldn't be a technology innovation hub as it is today, and we would probably be in a much worse situation. Because globalization beyond expanding worker base to different countries, it also expands the number of customers by almost 20 times.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Just because there isn't much of a market for the meat, doesn't mean the whale has no economic value. Hell, perfumers pay top dollar for sperm whale vomit that washes up on shore. The market is a strange place.
On a separate note, I think announce that Japanese whaling ship numbers have recovered enough that we are restarting our industry of pirating whalers. Each whaling ship harvested has enormous economic benefit, and the industry as a whole can employ many peg legged captains and scurvy dogs.
See, the problem with unfettered globalism is that it enables the "race to the bottom". If there are no tarrifs, nobody has an incentive to make things in the US when they can go to China, India or Vietnam and make the same things but pay workers significantly less and also have less environmental regulations to deal with. The only reason the US still manufactures trucks is a special tarrif imposed on imported trucks which inhibits a "race to the bottom" for that particular kind of product.
You have obviously never looked a whale in the eye. They are intelligent beings that have as much right to life as you. Nobody's survival depends upon eating whales. Maybe a moral argument could have been made a couple of hundred years ago, but today its not civilized behavior.
Greed is the root of all evil.
But how long would whales last if every major country returned to commercial whaling?
How long would deer last if we all returned to deer hunting?
The solution is the same - monitoring the populations and setting quotas accordingly.
Outright bans cause problems too - the migratory bird hunting ban here in the US, for example, where enormous flocks of Canadian geese wreak havoc, the populations having exploded (in part due to corn fields and golf courses, and in part due to killing off their other predators).
For whales, some of the whale species are in direct competition with otherwise sustainable fishing, and some are even threatening other vulnerable marine life that's at risk of extinction. Sure, if we stopped overharvesting and polluting the oceans, it would be less of a problem, but fat chance of that. As it is, our mass hunting fish and shrimp without also culling their predators like whales is becoming a real problem.
They have government sponsored workshops to teach people how to eat whale meat.
This is in Japan mind, where pretty much everyone eats sushi.
Collect the whole set.
Well it isn't the Republicans Fault
In a way, it is.
- The financial crisis in 2008 was definitely made possible by deregulation of Wallstreet and the push for laissez faire in general. The ripple effect it had is still felt in countries where nationalism is on the rise. Specifically, it rallied people around the idea of national austerity in economically hard times which led to more income inequality (with most of those responsible going unpunished or even largely unimpacted). So there is also plenty of blame to go around for those (rightwing) governments that have facilitated said income inequality.
- War-mongering in the Middle East has been a mostly Republican affair and it has certainly cultivated religious hatred worldwide (back and forth) as well as created many, many refugees. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not implying that the Middle East would have been some peaceful oasis without Western 'interventions', but in hindsight I believe we can be fairly sure that we haven't really helped.
The problem is our instincts are not the best course of action for the problem. It is like an opossum playing dead on a busy street. These are problems that require work, planning, sacrifice and thought to solve. Not a gut feeling.
To me that describes the rightwing approach to governing pretty well. Driven by instincts and gut feelings to a large degree and representing the world in an overly simplified fashion.
However the problem isn't globalism. Because you are even explaining how all these countries are failing their manufacturing workers, by playing the "Race to the bottom" game.
That's pretty cool. Somehow you've gotten your mental gymnastics to the point where you can cite a problem that is clearly facilitated by globalism, but somehow not attribute it to globalism.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
"They can do what they want in their own country unless it's something very specific I care about. "
Does that kind of sum up your post?
You're speaking nonsense. There's enough demand that Japan has, in the recent past, resorted to importing whale meat from Iceland.
Horseshit. The US has enough oil reserves to be completely independent if they so choose. "No blood for oil" is a slogan dreamed up by retards.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against spreading this news and I'm not pro-hunting but Slashdot isn't the place for it.
This isn't news for nerds no matters how you want to look at it and I cannot ignore that.
There are a whole bunch of species of whale that are neither particularly smart nor anywhere near endangered, like the common minke whale. Anyone who isn't a vegetarian has no business pretending there's a moral issue here.
And the general IWC moratorium, now over three decades old, is in blatant defiance of the purpose stated in the convention that established the IWC -- to make the whaling industry orderly, in order to increase whale stocks, so that more whales can be hunted. A general ban on commercial whaling isn't what the Japanese signed up for, and it's ludicrous to claim they should be bound to keep going along with the abuse of a treaty that's been perverted against its explicit text.
Reading through the summary it seems like maybe having Japan hunt whales near Asher they live, may be better than having them hunt whales around Antartica (which is what they were doing).
Antartica still has a long way to go to recover from the whaling days, and if they are hunting locally maybe it will be more sustainable.
Too bad they can't just give up whaling altogether though,
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You are the only retard here. Oil is a commodity sold on a global market. If oil prices rise, they rise everywhere. The only way to go completely independent would be to declare oil a strategic resource and ban all imports and exports of it. That would kill your economy overnight.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Quite. You can tell what they are when they fly over and go "honk, eh".
When wages fall or are stagnant while the cost of living rises people get upset and Nationalism flourishes. The lesson of History shows: Either the Rich spread the money around or the poor spread the pitchforks and torches around.
Think about it, commercial whaling will be done only for profit. The things they did with research disguising was government paid. And all indications are that the younger generation despise whaling, and the older one only did it as a tradition (not for the horrid taste). Often whale meat was left to rot because nobody bought it. Thus if it is commercial whaling only... a few may try... Then with collapsing market and nobody buying it, it dies out. Win win on the long run : the japanese government can pretend it did what it's people wanted (well a few of them) and it is not their fault if the market don't buy, and in the long run they can point the finger that the whale number don't drop and tell people "see : nothing bad happens".
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
You're somewhat ignorant of US foreign policy and its motivation.
Also, reserves is not the same thing as affordable oil.
The US has a long-standing policy of installing (or trying to) friendly terrorist regimes where cheap, easy to extract oil is available.
Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, most of the small Gulf "countries" which only have oil wells and US bases, etc.
There is no demand. This is a simple fact. Nobody in Japan likes whale meat, even the whalers prefer other meats.
https://i.imgur.com/rUybGN4.pn...
You are the only retard here. Oil is a commodity sold on a global market. If oil prices rise, they rise everywhere.
Hurr durr, thanks Einstein! And having a fuckload of oil they could sell for way more money would be so horrible for the US economy!
Commercial whaling to be resumed from July next year will be limited to Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zones
We can trust them for that until they will have extinguished whales presence in their exclusive economic zones, but after that?
I don't know what I would do without my daily dose of paid PR cleanup for the nuclear industry here on slashdot.
It is. Imagine paying European prices to fill up your car. Then count the money you'd have left for everything else.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
You seem to know a lot about where I live, work and what I think.
Please, tell me.
I'd be fascinated to learn.
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)
Whales are near the top of the food chain and long lived mammals and so they tend to bio-accumulate a huge load of heavy metals and other toxins in the oceans. They're probably not really advisable things to eat on a regular basis if you value your health.
You were in normay, a piece of old boot leather would have tasted delicious compared to the local food.
Just terrible, like all the other senseless animal slaughter world wide of dissappearing species. Screw you Japan, you have lost my respect