Laurel+Anderson-+Whaling+in+Japan

Japanese Whaling By Laurel Anderson

Whaling has been a part of Japanese History since as early as the 12th century, and even though illegal, still goes on today. Even after a plethora of countries condemning Japan’s behavior such as the U.S. and Australia, they’re doesn’t seem to be much stop to the issue. But what is whaling really all about? Research is Japan’s excuse for whaling, but according to Greenpeace Australia’s Pacific CEO Steve Shallhorn, “I haven’t met one person, pro-whalers or not, outside of the Fisheries Agency payroll who believe that these researches are useful.” They use their research to see the population, age structure, growth rates, age of maturity, reproductive rates, feeding, nutrition and levels of contaminants in whales. On February 15th 2010, two Japanese Greenpeace activist were put on trial for theft and trespass charges. Why? They were investigating if the researchers harpooning whales were taking whale meat home, which in fact they were. But when they tried to expose this, they were imprisoned. In fact, some local governments are encouraging schools to put whale meat on their lunch menu. The Japan Whaling Association, established in 1946 to make an orderly development of the whaling industry, states that, “Asking Japan to abandon this part of its culture would compare to Australians being asked to stop eating meat pies, Americans being asked to stop eating hamburgers and the English being asked to go without fish and chips.” They do have a point there, but still many whales are in fact an endangered species has shown in the table below taken from the Japan Whaling Association Website. 149,000 (N. Atlantic) || There are actually an estimated 80 species in the world, but this still shows that the amount of whales are beginning to decrease. What’s even more appalling is that even though the Southern Ocean is an International Whale Sanctuary, there’s still whaling being taken out there. And even though the Humpback whales are obviously endangered, when Japanese whalers come to the Australian coast line, they haven’t said if they will spare Migaloo, and albino humpback whale that is a popular tourist attraction. Japan says that, “Whales are just as important, and not more special that any other fish,” says Japan Fisheries Agency spokesperson Hideki Moronuki. Whether it’s really for research or for food, they is still no reason that Japan needs to continue to kill hundreds of whales per year. Eventually some parts of culture mist go, like the unfair Catholic religious practices went out when Martin Luther posted his Thesis about them. Killing an endangered species, no matter the reason, is still wrong.   Works Cited  Blair, Gavin. "Whale Meat: For Research or Food?" //International News | Global News from Around the World.// Global Post, 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 05 Sept. 2010. .  "Japan Whaling Assoc. -Q&A." //  //// ú //// //// { //// //// ß //// //// ~ //// //// ¦ //// //// ï //// //// z //// //// [ //// //// y //// //// [ //// //// W //. Japan Whaling Association. Web. 05 Sept. 2010. . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sekiguchi, Toko. "Why Japan's Whale Hunt Continues." //Time//. //Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com//. Time Magazine, 20 Nov. 2007. Web. 05 Sept. 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1686486,00.html>.
 * Name || Distribution || Population ||
 * Minke Whales || Southern Hemisphere, North West Pacific and Okhotsk Sea, and North Atlantic (excluding Canadian East Coast. || 761,000 (S. Hemisphere) 25,000 (N.W. Pacific)
 * Bowhead Whales || Bering Chukchi- Beaufort Seas stock || 8,000 ||
 * Gray Whales || Eastern North Pacific || 26,300 ||
 * Humpback Whales || Western North Atlantic || 11,570 ||
 * Blue Whales || Southern Hemisphere || 400-1,400 ||
 * Fin Whales || North Atlantic || 47,300 ||