National Geographic: 4,000+ Japan Whale Harvest Not Justified, Experts Say [View All]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080902-japan-whaling.html?source=rss

Ker Than
for National Geographic News
September 2, 2008

A new study by Japan's national whale-research program is drawing sharp rebuke from scientists and conservationists who say the results did not necessitate killing more than 4,000 whales.

Critics have long accused Japan of using its scientific whaling program to circumvent a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).




In the new research, Kenji Konishi of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research and his colleagues analyzed data from 4,704 Antarctic minke whales killed by the Japanese Whale Research Program (JARPA) from 1987 to 2005.

They concluded that the thickness of the whales' blubber decreased by 3.6 millimeters (0.14 inch), or about 9 percent, during the 18-year period.

The Japanese team suggests the thinning blubber may be due to either global warming-related reductions in ocean krill populations, competition by other whale species, or a combination of the two factors.

The minke whales killed by JARPA were preserved for study or openly sold as meat on the Japanese market, as is allowed under IWC regulations.

The study is detailed online in a recent edition of the journal Polar Biology.

"Crude" and Unnecessary

FULL 2 page story at link.