whaling

hm it looks like japan will be sending fleets of death factories after the whales now. how do u feel about this? i am naturally opposed to this..in fact i was looking at joining greenpeace for awhile..this kind of thing makes me interested in joining up again



Japan gains key whaling victory

Pro-whaling nations have won their first vote towards the resumption of commercial whaling for 20 years.

The International Whaling Commission meeting backed a resolution calling for the eventual return of commercial whaling by a majority of just one vote.

Japan said the outcome was "historic", but it does not mean a lifting of the 1986 ban - that would need support from three-quarters of the commission.

Anti-whaling countries say they will challenge the decision.

Conservation groups have expressed dismay, with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) saying anti-whaling nations needed to work harder to prevent the ban eventually being overturned.


This is the most serious defeat the conservation cause has ever suffered at the IWC

Chris Carter, New Zealand Environment Minister


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Japan and other pro-whaling nations want to move the International Whaling Commission (IWC) away from conservation and towards managing whale numbers.

The resolution declared: "The moratorium, which was clearly intended as a temporary measure, is no longer necessary."

It was tabled by six Caribbean nations, including St Kitts and Nevis, where the annual IWC meeting is being held.

The resolution was approved by a vote of 33 to 32, with one member - China - abstaining.

Although the ban aimed at protecting the endangered species is still in place, there is no doubt commercial hunting is a step closer, the BBC's Richard Black in St Kitts says.

'Whalers' club'

Ifaw spokesman Joth Singh described the decision as a "wake-up call" for countries which claimed they cared for whales.


HOW NATIONS VOTED
Pro-whaling: Includes Japan, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, Morocco, Cambodia
Anti-whaling: Includes UK, US, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, France, Spain, Germany, Israel
"It is clear that the intent is for the IWC to revert back to a whalers' club, which is what it was up to the 1970s," he said.

After the vote, Brazil and New Zealand said they would challenge the resolution.

"This is the most serious defeat the conservation cause has ever suffered at the IWC," New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter told AFP news agency.

"It has been a significant diplomatic victory for Japan."

Some conservationists have singled out Denmark for particular attention, after it voted with Japan despite being a European Union member, our correspondent says.


Chris Carter (R) said the anti-whaling bloc would regroup
As well as St Kitts and Nevis, the resolution was drafted by St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica and Antigua.

It says whales consume large quantities of fish, which those backing the overturning of the ban say makes whaling an issue of food security - a view dismissed by anti-whaling campaigners.

Tokyo believes whale numbers have risen sufficiently to allow the hunting of certain species.

But Japan's Deputy Whaling Commissioner Joji Morishita said any future commercial whaling would be on a much smaller scale than in the past.

"It's not going back to the commercial whaling, it should be the beginning of sustainable whaling, plus protection of depleted and endangered species," he said.





Guide to whale species
The slim victory for Japan followed its defeat in four other votes at the IWC meeting, including a proposal to end work on the conservation of small cetaceans such as dolphins and porpoises.

Environmental groups have accused developing countries of voting with Japan on whaling issues in return for money for fisheries projects - claims which have been repeatedly denied by all the countries involved, the Associated Press news agency says.

Currently, Japan and Iceland kill whales under an IWC ruling which allows nations to catch whales for "scientific research".

Norway, which formally objected to the 1986 ban, openly conducts commercial whaling.

source

what do they do with dead whales
eat em or what

Whales have started their annual migration along the entire east and west coasts of Australia to give birth in the warmer waters. While Australia was involved in killing whales until the mid seventies, the whale watching industry now brings in far more money than harvesting them ever did. I fear the whale killers will harpoon a species or two and a lucrative industry as well. Most of the products that were extracted from whales can be made synthetically now.

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Originally Posted by friendowl

what do they do with dead whales
eat em or what

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Yeah, in some countries, whale meat is considered a delicacy. Other cultures use various parts of the whale for a variety of things...the fat, the skin, etc.

I don't know enough about the whale population to say yay or ney. I'm not opposed to hunting but the enviornment also has to support it (overpopulation).

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Originally Posted by friendowl

what do they do with dead whales
eat em or what

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http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/Envfacts/facts/whales.htm

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Whales have been hunted by people for at least 4 000 years. In more recent times, the advent of commercial whaling in the open seas (in the 1700s and 1800s), and the development of the explosive cannon (1868) has resulted in a plundering of the world's whale stocks. Whales used to be hunted for a variety of products, including oil, whalebone and meat. The only product with special value today is the meat, most of which is eaten in Japan.

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http://www.greenland.com/Adventures/Animal_Life/Whales/

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A bowhead whale could provide up to 50 tons of meat and more than 1 km of baleen. The whale meat would be distributed round the settlement, some being dried and stored for the winter. The skin, which is particularly rich in vitamin C, was eaten, the blubber was utilised for heating, the teeth used for tools, and the baleen was used for cords and ropes. Rope made from baleen was exceptionally strong and was therefore also a greatly-prized commodity, used for bartering with both Norse settlers and, later, European whalers.

At the beginning of the 1600s, the introduction of bigger and stronger ships made it possible to sail to Svalbard and eastern Greenland in the hunt for the much sought-after whales.
Whale oil was used primarily for lighting and as a lubricant, but it was also utilised in the clothing industry for tanning leather, in rope making and for the manufacture of soap products, ship tar, varnish and paint. In addition, the glycerine content from the oil was used for manufacturing cosmetics and explosives.

The baleen, also known as whalebone, was used for ribs in corsets, parasols, fans, lamp shades and riding whips.

The whalers were especially interested in the bowhead whale (Balaena Mysticetus) and the right whale (Eubalaena Glacialis). These whales were slow moving, and just one Bowhead whale would provide 20-30 tons of oil.

As whale numbers fell, the whalers moved westward in their search. Here they encountered the Inuit and traded with them. The whalers bartered clothing, textiles, pottery and earthenware goods, brass kettles, tinware, beads and sewing needles and knives for blubber, teeth and skins. A shirt "cost" the staggering sum of 1.5 barrels of blubber or two fox skins.

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the most ironic part of it all is that the rope tied to the harpoon was more than likely, made from baleen...

Against it.

Whales are slow at reproducing and have to travel thousands of miles to give birth to just one offspring.

Sooner or later they will be wiped out if they are not protected.

iv alreADY SIGNED A PETITION TO IT...woops, cap lock. i think it sucks, poor whales, i saw it on the history channel.

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Originally Posted by Ganjasaurusrex

Against it.

Whales are slow at reproducing and have to travel thousands of miles to give birth to just one offspring.

Sooner or later they will be wiped out if they are not protected.

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cosign

Blablabla..

I live at the Faroe Islands, and I have been whaling.. If you've seen that crap on Discovery Chanel about us NOT eating the whales, but whaling for fun; you are completely wrong.. We are a small country of aprox. 50K people, half of wich don't eat whale I suppose.. Whaling is a TRADITION that has been kept for hundreds of years..

And, Green Peace are fools.. Just so you know, they don't have FACT, they have lies, just like the government has lies against cannabis..

I don't expect ANY of you to understand this, but just remember, what you have against Faroese whaling, is the same the GOVERNMENT has against cannabis; a big lie..

Thank you, and goodnight..

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Originally Posted by Ganjasaurusrex

Against it.

Whales are slow at reproducing and have to travel thousands of miles to give birth to just one offspring.

Sooner or later they will be wiped out if they are not protected.

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Oh, and the whales we hunt up here are called.. Well, I don't know what they're called in English..:p

But studies, that Green Peace DO NOT show, say that there is a steady increase in their "population"..