Der Tag des Gerichts

[jseal]

Next week, the 62nd meeting of the International Whaling Commission takes place in Agadir, Morocco. The main issue facing the voting members will be for a compromise on an IWC ad hoc proposal, which would allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to hunt openly despite a moratorium on commercial whaling, but put their programs under strict IWC monitoring and aim for sharp reductions in their catch over 10 years.

This could be a very interesting event.

[Fangtasia]

Leave the damn whales alone is my vote!!

[dicksbro]

Leave the damn whales alone is my vote!!
I'm with you, Fangtasia!

[Oldfart]

This almost has something to do with this. It was an ad created for a TV show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW2krlJ75oU&feature=related

[Lord Snow]

I know this sounds somewhat callous, but whale hunting by native tribes has been going on for at least a couple hundred years. Entire societies and economies have been built around this industry in the past. Is it no different than hunting deer or raising cows for slaughter? My only philosophy to any hunting, whale or otherwise, is to use as much of what is killed as possible.

[Oldfart]

There's a big difference in subsistence hunting, like the Inuit and other groups, and going out in industrial slaughter ships taking whales they have to give away in Japan because so few want it. Norway is the same, on a lesser scale.

That they hide behind scientific sampling is even worse.

[jseal]

Only the Japanese adopt that legalistic position. The IWC regs admit of at least(only?) 3 conditions under which member nations may legally engage in whaling.

Objection: A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. e.g. Norway
Scientific: A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits', any IWC member can do this. e.g. Japan
Aboriginal: IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. e.g. Eskimos (Alaskan Inupiat to be PC)

[Oldfart]

I had it mentioned to me that there was a superstitious element to this, that the eating of the flesh of the leviathan was to share in the power of the beast.

[Lord Snow]

Some cultures also ate the hearts of certain animals believing the same thing. Some cultures revered the eyes more than anything else.

[jseal]

In the Middle East you can find sheep's brain and testicles in some markets (suqs). I have enjoyed the former, but not the latter.

[Fangtasia]

The biggest difference to me with hunting deer/sheep etc meat to whale meat...is there is a damn sight more of the former than the latter.

Whales take so long to reach sexual maturity and look after the calf for a very long time before they have another. They have no hope of surviving extinction if they are taken in commercial quanties, they are suffering now with just so called 'scientific' research.

If they could procreate at the same rate as other animals used commercially for food, then it would not be such an issue. But they cant...that is a fact. If they did there would be whale farms out there making the most of their commercial value!

[jseal]

A compromise is up for debate (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10362015.stm) at the IWC's meeting opening tomorrow.

[Oldfart]

A close scrutiny of the Japanese history with tuna quotas doesn't give me any hope here.

[jseal]

As I understand it, the EU’s position on the compromise will:

Seek reduced catch limits in the Northern Hemisphere, that would guarantee a significant improvement in the conservation status of whales in the long term, moving towards the final goal to ban the whaling activities which are not in line with the moratorium on commercial whaling within an agreed time-frame.

And:

Support phasing down significantly all whaling in the Southern Ocean over the coming years and having a phasing out of whaling in that Ocean within an agreed time-frame.

My reading is that they will buy into the compromise.

[themi01]

It may seem callous but whale oil is no longer used other than true indigenous people though I believe there is a market for whale oil in Japan ? to sum up my belief Ted Neugent is my President

[Oldfart]

themi01, it's not about the oil, but the meat and prestige.

[jseal]

Alas, it all came to nothing. No compromise. No reduction in the number of whales killed each year.

Perhaps next year. :(

[Fangtasia]

Why does that not suprise me!

[Oldfart]

The Japanese got their second preferred option.

[jseal]

The failure seems to me to have been an own goal by the anti-whaling nations. In the compromise, they had an opportunity to get the whaling nations to agree to a reduction in the size of the whale catch, and to include on board observers to verify the counts.

In their inability to negotiate away from their unrealistic zero catch goal, the anti-whaling nations have permitted the whaling nations to continue to set whatever limit they choose.

The IWC’s meeting was a disappointing political failure.