A Japanese fleet has instructions to kill 50 humpbacks – and 1,000 whales total – under the shroud of ‘scientific whaling‘.
Why should we care? Well it’s estimated that there are about 10,000 humpbacks coursing about the planet now… low numbers considering we had 240,000 in the North Atlantic pre-whaling.
Ever notice how the actual term ‘science‘ often appears in titles where the group may… say… be engaged in activities requiring public justification?
November 20th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I became aware of this calamity that Japan seems bent on pursuing earlier in the week. Hopefully, with great public and political pressure, they will come to their senses. Or it will come back to haunt them…
November 20th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
I gave $200 to Sea Shepherd this morning.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
On a strictly utilitarian assessment:
If Humpbacks get scared, then whalewatching will be reduced in value
If East Australian WWatching of 2000 whales is worth $200 Million and a whale lives for 50 years, then each whale is worth $5 million dollars.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Thanks to all for your continued efforts toward our planet.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Does anybody know if any peer-reviewed publications come out of this ‘scientific’ whaling?
September 25th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
No way. They are fooling themselves. It is unbelievable what the japs are doing. Their tenacity in holding to customs and principles is something marvelous and a point to be taught to humanity, yet some of these same principles are nauseatingly morbid. All humanity knows, except perhaps some Norsemen, that fish stocks are in frank depletion, let alone the quantity of cetaceans, of which, a few species are nearly finished off. It seems that Japs do not want to hear about it. Are they deaf? Are they stupid? No. It is the voice of capitalism banging in their ears: we have to pay for our investments in this flotilla, we have to keep our professions going, we have to feed our families…
I hear similar voices elsewhere. Soon there will be no more space for humans on Earth… let alone whales and dolphins…
January 6th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
What will happen if the humpback whales go extinct and their alien friends come looking? They destroy earth, that’s what. Then we will need a super-cool team of space explorers to go back in time to the eighties and bring some back. Hilarity will ensue.