The way the whale market is going in Japan, whale hunting would probably drop sharply once the pretense of a protest harvest was stripped and people found out that there really isn’t much of a market for the stuff anymore.

This is true, the market for whale meat is not so great in Japan anymore, nothing at all like it was post-WW2 because it was cheap and plentiful. The question this raises though is this a natural drifting away from eating whale meat, or is this a resultant of it being outlawed? Eating whale meat is kind of like the whale population I think. The US and other western nations are responsible for the decline in the whale population through traditional western “kill-’em all!” hunting strategies, and the US and other western are responsible for the decline in the market for whale in Japan too through traditional, “stfu or will kill you too!” diplomacy…

That is what the US did to Japan. “Become part of the IWC and cover our ass, or we sanction you.”

Yep… that’s one of the ways the US gets stuff done around the world. It’s also the natural product of being the world’s largest consumer of foreign-made goods and having the trade deficit to back it up. But if the Japanese really think that catching a few more whales than the already generous amount they already do for ’scientific research’ is worth more than billions of dollars a year in US consumption of Japanese products, then they should grow a pair and leave the IWC altogether. The US has a pretty short memory, and I’m pretty sure that any sanctions that result would be dropped in a couple of years, anyhow.

All arguments about it being inhumane or cruel because whales are ‘cute’ or ’smart’ are irrelevant. It’s no different then any other form of meat humans eat.

You’re absolutely right, and the above has always been my argument for why we should stop outlawing cannibalism. (Kidding!)

To a certain extent, I agree with you… If the whale population is healthy enough to be hunted, then the IWC has pretty much achieved its original goals, and should be scrapped. That way, nations like Japan and Norway can stop bitching about being ‘bullied by America’ and stop claiming whaling as a part of their ‘vanishing cultural heritage’. The way the whale market is going in Japan, whale hunting would probably drop sharply once the pretense of a protest harvest was stripped and people found out that there really isn’t much of a market for the stuff anymore.

Yep… the IWC is pretty fucked up, since it makes its members pay to vote, unlike the United States, where deliberate failure to pay taxes totlly isn’t a felony and doesn’t result in a loss of voting priveliges in most states… I agree… it’s totally undemocratic to require countries to fulfill their obligations under the treaties they signed in order to have a vote in the IWC.

As I said before, the whole basis of Japan being in the IWC is flawed to begin with. When you put a gun to someone’s head and tell them, “sign the contract or die” the contract is void. That is what the US did to Japan. “Become part of the IWC and cover our ass, or we sanction you.” Japan shouldn’t be bound by the IWC in any way shape or form. Hence, the IWC is corrupt from the beginning, corrupt to the end. If the world really cared about saving the whales, it would have said something to other countries besides Japan when the IWC was formed. But no, Japan was the ONLY whaling country that was forced to sign because America knew it could do whatever it wanted to Japan and Japan could do nothing about it.

My stance on the whaling issue is simple: if there are enough whales to allow for whaling to resume, then whaling should be resumed. If not, then no whaling. All arguments about it being inhumane or cruel because whales are ‘cute’ or ’smart’ are irrelevant. It’s no different then any other form of meat humans eat.

The big problem in Korea is the lack of fish–they’re fishing progressively smaller salmon and pollack here on the East coast, and the fish population is pretty much imploding. The Korean fishery is destined to go the way of Newfoundland’s . . .

Ah, yes, because buying votes so one can indiscriminately slaughter slow-breeding animals is the apotheosis of “democracy” …

You can look at it that way too if you’d like, but it’s the IWC that makes it’s members pay to vote. Either way, the IWC is still fscked up, and that’s my point.

Of course, given the relative popularity of whale meat in Japan (they’re trying to unload it on schoolchildren — hook ‘em while they’re young, eh? http://www.underwatertimes.com.....8591023407) it doesn’t seem likely that even if Japan did succeed in convincing the IWC to declare open season on whales, there would be any sort of real market for whale products.

Ah yes, the IWC.. The biggest joke of ‘democracy’ in the history of time…

Ah, yes, because buying votes so one can indiscriminately slaughter slow-breeding animals is the apotheosis of “democracy” …