Humpbacks face a slow death by explosives; Japan LYING about whale kills

Humpbacks face a slow death by explosives (Sydney Morning Herald)

Andrew Darby in St Kitts
June 19, 2006

HUMPBACK whales will suffer lingering deaths in Japan's scientific hunt, where they will be harpooned with equipment little different from that used on much smaller minke whales.

Doubts about the humaneness of the humpback hunt emerged when Japan refused to release details of its trial kill of fin whales to the International Whaling Commission meeting in St Kitts in the Caribbean.
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The little evidence publicly available about Japan's current minke hunt shows that fewer than half the whales die instantly, and some can take more than half an hour.
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Mike Donoghue, of the New Zealand Department of Conservation, said Japan had withheld information on its plans for killing the larger whales, even refusing to say what killing method would be used if the harpoon failed.
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"It's obvious the Japanese are hiding this because their killing methods are appalling," said Mick McIntyre, Australian director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
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more: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/humpbacks-face-a-slow-death-by-explosives/2006/06/18/1150569211575.html

WOW, what an appalling article. Japan seems to have no good reason for hunting whales, but wants to 'scientifically' kill members of an endangered species, even in violation of international law. It's trying to bribe the other members of the whaling commision with economic aid, withholding information, and outright lying. All for the sake of hunting wild animals which have been virtually wiped off the face of the Earth. Is whale hunting to the Japanese (or their power elite) like bullfighting to Spain, a tradition around which they have built so much of their national self-image that they are blind to the senseless, wanton cruelty of it?

Well, Japan's electoral system is designed to give disproportionate power to non-core urban areas so you have farmers, fishermen, etc, having a lot of power. The politicans from the areas where this IS tradition and part of regional self-image seem to be very vocal and stubborn. Edgy coalition politics demands keeping a lot of special intersts happy and I'm sure whaling is just another on a long list. Now having said that, your sense of it is pretty much correct. It's not that whaling is a core element of national self-image. It's that Japan is a country that has been kicked around on a lot of issues for a long time. They resent being told by western nations that they're the evildoers and need to obey, cease and desist. This provides the poltiicians digging in their heels with critical moderate/independent support required to maintain their position.

I mean, take a comment made on another thread: that the world fish stocks have declined because of the ravenous Japanese fishing industry. Uh, not by itself. The Japanese industry had A LOT of help, worldwide, and considerable assistance was provided by western nations, as well as international law that encouraged abuse of the fish outside the power of governments to manage. There was a famous incident where a Canadian coast guard ship did something Sea Shepherd-ish against a Spanish fishing vessel's net and Spain was making a lot of tough talk over it. This is just to illustrate that the laws were written to allow rampant fishing, and rampant, it was. Japan shares the blame, but the blame goes quite far and wide.

But, when it comes to this issue, Japanese people hear it is Japan's fault alone, enough of the time that to be blunt, it pisses them off. That's when people just stop caring about being nice and sensitive.

I think I understand trhe "nationalism" issues behind it, but bollocks to Japan, they can stay the fuck away from my oceans.

politics. More strength to the old adage that "all politics is local".

I can understand it in a detatched, logical way and still just shake my head sadly because it's not, on its merits, at all a valid reason for supporting whaling, which is very bloody stuff (bad in Buddhism in general). But the reactionary digging in the heels against sanctimonious environmentalists hasn't helped at all.