Japan's scientific whale research

[Wai]

I have to give a speech to my class arguing that whaling is overpublicised, thanks to anti-whaling groups for attention and funds.

 

Does the International Whaling Commission commend Japan's research papers? How many research papers have Japan written? Nick Gales from Australia says they've only written a mere 43 or so in 18 years, while Dan Goodman from Canada says they've written over 130.

 

Even if Japan hasn't written a lot, or have made little progress, it doesn't mean that they haven't been trying.

 

I'd like to hear from other scientists on this forum in regards to this issue.

 

Thanks!

[PhDP]

Although I think Japan should stop "studying" whales, I also think there's an absurd overemphasis on protecting whales.

 

Greenpeace is a little like Nancy Grace, they only care when 'cute' animals are in danger.

[Wai]

Greenpeace and the alike claim that Japan has been whaling in the Australian Whale Sanctuary. Is this area that they're referring to really the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, where Australia only has a partial claim, and scientific whaling is legal? Also, the refuelling by the Oriental Bluebird is located south of the southern 60th parallel, where there are no territorial claims.

 

Greenpeace continues to hide the fact that only commercial whaling (i.e. what Norway is doing) is banned from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, but scientific whaling is allowed.

 

I think the Japanese put a lot of effort into their research. Whale meat consumption is dropping in Japan, but they still continue to kill around the same number of whales, so I doubt selling of the meat is their primary focus. Why would they kill more whales if no-one wants to eat them? I think they just need more samples, since aquatic mammals would be more difficult to study than land ones.

[CharonY]

I think the Japanese put a lot of effort into their research. Whale meat consumption is dropping in Japan, but they still continue to kill around the same number of whales, so I doubt selling of the meat is their primary focus. Why would they kill more whales if no-one wants to eat them? I think they just need more samples, since aquatic mammals would be more difficult to study than land ones.

 

That's rather unlikely. Just by browsing I do not see an awful amount of paper on whales and many of them are using molecular biological techniques. In other words, you only need a couple of cells to do the respective experiments, slaughtering a whole whale is, in the truest sense of the word, "overkill".

Also apparently a lot of the meat that is not getting eaten simply lie rotting around:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23206289-5006301,00.html

 

Finally you may want to read the following article:

Parsons et al 2006, Marine Pollution Bulletin

 

It’s not just poor science – Japan’s “scientific” whaling may be a human health risk too