Leading Australian Environmentalist: Japanese Whaling is OK

Not all Australian environmentalists are opposed to Japan’s whaling program, reports the Daily Telegraph:

ENVIRONMENTALIST and 2007 Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has declared his support for the hugely unpopular Japanese whaling program.

As Australia prepares to monitor the whaling fleet in Antarctica amid rising diplomatic tensions with Japan, Professor Flannery says there is nothing unsustainable about its annual cull of up to 1000 whales – particularly the common minke whale.

“In terms of sustainability, you can’t be sure that the Japanese whaling is entirely unsustainable,” Professor Flannery told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s hard to imagine that the whaling would lead to a new decline in population.”

That is not to say that Flannery approves of all the actions of Japanese whalers. He has stated his disapproval of hunting endangered whale species or even Humpback whales, which are considered “threatened” by international organizations. However, when it comes to the whale species that makes up the bulk of Japan’s whale quota, Flannery sees no major reason to oppose the hunt:

But the 935 minke whales that Japan aims to kill each year under its so-called scientific whaling program should not threaten the survival of that species.

Professor Flannery said there were much bigger threats to marine biodiversity and sustainability, including to the future of krill, small crustaceans essential in the sea food chain – and the main sustenance for whales in the Southern Ocean.

Krill populations are declining as a result of over-fishing and because rising sea temperatures are killing off their food sources.

Professor Flannery said he was more concerned about those issues “where our future is most under threat, which is not the minkes”.

However, he is worried about how the whales are slaughtered, saying he would like to see them “killed as humanely as possible”.

[...]

“If these animals are closer in intelligence to the sheep than the dog, is it morally wrong to eat them if they can be harvested sustainably?” he wrote.

14 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - December 31, 2007 at 11:36 am

Categories: Japanese Food Tags: japan, whaling

http://casuallygeeky.blogspot.com/ Lord Huggington

I’m sure Flannery’s comments will get the pot a-stirring in the coming weeks, but whatever the case I just don’t see why people would want some whale meat. From what I understand, it doesn’t taste very good, and is loaded up with all sorts of toxins.

From Wikipedia: “Studies with several species have shown that whale meat often contains dangerously high levels of environmental toxins such as PCB, mercury, and dioxin. The highest concentration of EDCs (Endocrine Disrupting Compounds) ever found in any animal was measured recently in the blubber of a Minke Whale, a species commonly hunted by Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters. These toxins are particularly dangerous for pregnant women and growing children, which calls into question the practice of providing whale meat lunches for school children.”

The only people that benefit from the whaling are the whalers, and the kickback taking pencil pushers that keep the whale hunting gravy train going.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

So do fish, and we still eat them up crispy with chips and vinegar.

Also, preggers women shouldn’t eat tuna or salmon, or any fish raw at all, because of the mercury. Incidentally, chickens and shrimp are very likely to poison you. Apple seeds contain a small dose of cyanide. And let’s not even get into fugu. Have you seen how sausage is made?

What’s your point, Lord Huggington? Food is dangerous. All of it.
http://hiddenblog1.blogspot.com/ The Unseen One

I personally would like to try whale meat once just to see what it tasted like.

shazzb0t

This guy will be stoned to death by his more barbaric colleagues. Sometimes rational thought is no substitute for good ol’ passion plays put on about the plight of the whales by emotional eco-preachers.
http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Finally, a breath of fresh air! Reasonable, palatable discourse on the issue.
helical

Sad how someone saying something reasonable is actually newsworthy these days.
http://myso-calledjapaneselife.blogspot.com/ Shari

Wasn’t the larger issue that Japan was hunting whales in international waters in which they had no right to be doing so?

It’s only legal to hunt whales in international waters for scientific purposes, not for selling to the consumers or putting on someone’s table for dinner. Clearly, Japan violated the terms of whaling in international waters. People aren’t addressing the real reason to protest what Japan did and that’s the illegality of their actions.

The discussion about whether or not it’s acceptable to eat whale meat or not is simply a distraction and completely beside the point.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

As far as I know, the IWC has yet to declare Japan’s “research” whaling to be a violation of the IWC’s regulations. It’s exploiting a loophole, but I haven’t seen any official condemnation of it from the body that makes the rules about whaling.
http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Shari: So Japan withdraws its participation in the IWC – What’s the issue then?

Look, Japan has never taken more than its fair share of whales, even to this day. It was the gluttons of the West who decimated the populations, and now just as big as their appetites are their voices shouting out in protest, over a bunch of political nonsense.

Dare I think, Greenpeace and friends are the new Che Guevara?

bern

Whaling is eco friendly. The natural habitat does not have to be turned into agricultural land and it is energy efficient.

A sustainable use of a natural renwable resources from the wild is the most eco friendly form of food production for human consumption today and should be welcomed.

http://www.japaneconomynews.com/ Ken

“Whaling is eco friendly…it is energy efficient.”

Wow, I didn’t realize that burning thousands of barrels of oil to travel thousands of kilometers away to hunt meat that ends up unsellable and in cold storage was “efficient.” That’s a new definition of “efficient” to me.

bern

Japan is not exploiting a loophole. It is the other IWC members who are not doing their jobs at IWC. The whole point of the convention is to regulate whaling and not opposing whaling.

Before conducting a commercial hunt countries conduct a scientific research programme to find out how many whales can be hunted without having a negative effect on the stock numbers. Once we get the facts on the table IWC agrees how many whales can be hunted commercially. The numbers are set from the stock numbers and the growth rates of whales.

Therefore countries like Australia and others have no reason to vote against Japan’s commercial hunt as far as science is concerned. They vote simply because of cultural preference in an whaling organization.
bern

“Wow, I didn’t realize that burning thousands of barrels of oil to travel thousands of kilometers away to hunt meat that ends up unsellable and in cold storage was “efficient.” That’s a new definition of “efficient” to me.”

Selective catching of marine fish and mammals is an environmentally sound way for producing food for humans because the environment remains unaffected, energy use is low in relation to yield, and there is no pollution from fertilisers, pesticides, or other chemicals. The natural habitat does not have to be turned into agricultural land. From an enviromental point of view whaling should be welcomed.

When you only protect a single spiecies in a multi spiecies eco system the eco system gets out of balance. We need to discuss ecological realities but it is difficult to discuss this when the anti whaling camp is driven by so much emotions because they regard whales as special animals. They have simply taken the whale out of the eco system due to cultural preference.
Evan

flannery is not explicitly condoning whaling, but rather saying there are more important issues. which is spot on the mark.

this mal-allignment of priorities is not restricted to australians and the anti-whaling movement. we should be shitting out pants about peak-oil and the eminent wrenching of the worlds climate… and how do we respond to this?
we continue building and driving more cars that are less efficient and continue building cities for cars rather than for people.

anyway, the minke catch may be sustainable but the fact remains it is primarily a daft and beligerent statement of japanese nationalism on the part of the fisheries peeps.

btw. read flannery’s “future eaters”. in my opinion, one of the most important books of the last 100 years. it will change your world view and hopefully, your behaviour too.

Leading Australian Environmentalist: Japanese Whaling is OK

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