Conservation begins with baseline research to determine the extent of the population. There seems to be many unanswered questions about whale populations in the Southern Ocean. Since the minke whale is the primary whale harvested perhaps some money should be spent to look at the sustainability of the present harvest levels. The next is education. One of the primary drivers of environmental change is education. Both of these require funds. Spending 2 million dollars bobbing around in the southern ocean saying you saved a few hundred whales, throwing bottles of acid, dragging warps, and shooting a TV show doing nothing to bring about long term change. In fact what it does is entrenches a practice and therefore guaranteeing that the issue continues for years to come. The SSCS has become a lifestyle which is rather interesting and shameful and an embarrassment to the real conservation movement.

The best thing for the Japanese whalers to do in regards to conservation and becoming sustainable is to stop breeding.

Well, that isn’t the case. Sea Shepherd saved 528 whales last winter, cutting the Japanese quota in half. They saved 800 blue fin tuna in the Med this year. That is crucial, seeing as how close these fish are coming to extinction.

Also, Sea Shepherd has never lost anyone on their ships and has never caused the death of another ships crewmember(s).

If everyone had the attitude of, “is it worth it for one creature, we’d really be in trouble.”

Sea Shepherd is the only organization in the Antarctic doing something for these intelligent and important mammals. In a whale sanctuary, mind you.

Also, Sea Shepherd has many campaigns all around the world. They were saving the oceans inhabitants loooonnng before Whale Wars.

No organization is perfect. At least Sea Shepherd is trying to defend the oceans and ocean life with passionate volunteers and making a difference.

It is only an illusion in the eyes of the Japanese whalers. Just as anything else they don’t like becomes an illusion.

When they say “real” , what they really mean is “not on the front line giving the whalers hell”

Unfortunately, romika has left out some important details.

1) All species of whales are protected by international agreements and resolutions.

2) Antarctic Minke whales are listed as “data deficient” by the IUCN due to conflicting population estimates. It is possible the species could be classified as endangered.

3) Up to 46% of the minke meat sold in Japan comes from the vulnerable “J-stock” according to a DNA study from 2009.

4) Japan imports the meat of Endangered Fin whales killed by Icelandic whalers. (148 killed this year alone)

5) The IWC has never defined what is “sustainable” (popular word used to justify political and economic decisions). Instead the IWC established that a whale population must be at a biologically optimal level to be hunted.

6) There are NO statistics establishing any species of great whale at an optimal level. In fact, DNA studies have determined the previous assumptions of pre-whaling populations may be severely underestimated. This means many whale species are much worse off as a result of commercial whaling than previously thought.

Unfortunately AnimuX continues his lies.

The IWC who established the protection is the same group whose regulations allow hunting of any whale species in any number for research.

The very last line of romika3′s post explicitly says that Antarctic Minke whales are Data Deficient.

Don’t know where he got the 46% number, but since the total of Pacific Minke’s, which would include the J-stock, only represent about 15% of the whales Japan takes it seems pretty impossible that those 15% of the whales represent 46% of the meat. If there is a study I assume that it wasn’t a very well done study.

The legal importing of Fin whales is actually true, but why he expected romika to include that in a list of Japanese catches is beyond me.

Actually the IWC has developed a formula as part of the RMP to determine the quota for each species of whales.

I haven’t seen this great whale study he mentions but again since Japan primarily hunts Minkes I again don’t see the relevance. Of course ‘assumptions of pre-whaling populations may be severely underestimated’ basically means nothing because it also means they may not be severely underestimated.

Japan supports the killing of whales by Iceland etc.
that is because they are buying a lot of those endangered fin whales that are being hacked to pieces by overseas companies. Stop japan killing whales full stop..and you take away a large whaling industry in Iceland etc.

David… Japanese illegal whaling supplies government funded school lunch programs…and we all know some of this whale meat ends up as pet food. Why the import hale meat i do not know considering that demand for whale meat is falling…however it wouldn’t make sense for Japan to import whale meat from Iceland simply to supply whale meat school lunches and for the pet food trade etc.

Regardless of whether you agree with this or not…Japanese whalers are targeting whales inside whale sanctuaries..and their quotas are a long and bloody one. Even if sea Shepherd can only shut down one whaling operation, then Japanese illegal whaling is the one to go after.

Perhaps after another year of whale wars there might be another ship that can tackle other areas.

Where pro-whalers continue to try and justify a hunt that subverts international conservation efforts, we find many interesting FACTS.

David says I’m lying:

Point by point:

1) All species of whales are protected by international agreements and resolutions.

In 1982 the IWC voted to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling which went into effect in 1986. However, prior to the moratorium every species of great whale except for the minke was already protected due to over-exploitation. CITES also forbids the international trade in whales.

2) Antarctic Minke whales are listed as “data deficient” by the IUCN due to conflicting population estimates. It is possible the species could be classified as endangered.

This is directly stated by the IUCN. I highly encourage everyone to look up “Balaenoptera bonaerensis” on the IUCN Red List web site.

Direct quote: “If the decline proves to be largely or mainly an artifact, or proves to have been transient in the light of analyses of more recent data, the species would qualify as Least Concern. If it were real, the species would qualify as Endangered. Pending resolution of the uncertainties relating to the apparent decline, however, the species is listed as Data Deficient (DD).”

3) Up to 46% of the minke meat sold in Japan comes from the vulnerable “J-stock” according to a DNA study from 2009.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17890-whale-forensics-highlights-threat-to-species.html

Direct Quote: “To find out exactly where the whale meat on sale in Japan was caught, the researchers analysed 1200 samples of Japanese whale meat between 1997 and 2004. They found that 250 of the samples came from 201 north Pacific minke whales. An alarming 46 per cent of these appeared to be from the protected J stock.”

4) Japan imports the meat of Endangered Fin whales killed by Icelandic whalers. (148 killed this year alone)

Another true statement. Iceland kills endangered Fin whales and exports the meat to Japan.

5) The IWC has never defined what is “sustainable” (popular word used to justify political and economic decisions). Instead the IWC established that a whale population must be at a biologically optimal level to be hunted.

Dr. Sidney Holt, who was once a member of the IWC scientific committee for many years, has made this clear in his writings about the IWC. He now blogs about it for IFAW.

6) There are NO statistics establishing any species of great whale at an optimal level. In fact, DNA studies have determined the previous assumptions of pre-whaling populations may be severely underestimated. This means many whale species are much worse off as a result of commercial whaling than previously thought.

In 2003 geneticists from Harvard and Stanford (Roman and Palumbi) produced a report based on DNA samples taken from whales indicating that estimates of whale populations from past data (like whaling ship log books) were inaccurate.

They concluded whale populations were once much larger than previously estimated. Therefore the numbers used by the IWC to determine pre-whaling population health were extremely low compared to the diversity indicated by whale DNA.

For example…

Fins:
IWC estimates 40,000
Geneticists 360,000

Humpbacks:
IWC 20,000
Geneticists 240,000

Once again pro-whaling antagonists make accusations without meeting any burden of proof.

David claims Palumbi’s estimates of Antarctic minke whale populations are rejected by anti-whalers and implies I am covering up or denying information on minke populations.

The fact is, the current population total of Antarctic Minke whales is unknown and the IUCN has listed the species as “Data Deficient” because of conflicting reports of minke numbers. I stated this very clearly -twice-.

Here is some information about Dr. Palumbi’s conclusions:

https://biology.stanford.edu/news/whale-scientist-palumbi-transforms-controversy-conservation

Palumbi says, “Amazingly, we got the same estimate no matter which gene we used: The historic population of the Antarctic minke whale was about 1 million.”

This CONTRADICTS the claims made by pro-whalers that the Antarctic minke population has exploded due to less competition from other whales (like the blue and fin) which were hunted to a tiny fraction of their original numbers.

The fabricated claims were intended to justify killing more Antarctic minke whales by falsely suggesting the minkes were multiplying and eating too much and therefore preventing other protected whales from recovering.

However, the results of Dr. Palumbi’s work clearly indicate Antarctic minkes had a historically large population. Antarctic minkes have NOT doubled or tripled in population as claimed by Japan and others.

In fact, Palumbi’s estimates support the possibility that the Antarctic minke population has declined significantly over time due to hunting like the other great whales.

Unfortunately, pro-whalers also like to cite the Antarctic minke “estimated” population numbers as evidence of a “sustainable” hunt. They reason if there are hundreds of thousands of minkes then cruelly dispatching one thousand in a Whale Sanctuary, despite repeated calls from the IWC to stop and a moratorium on commercial whaling, is OK.

However, the official status of the Antarctic Minke remains “Data Deficient” (IUCN) and protected by international agreement (IWC).

Never happen!

No but it’s usually a good place to start.

Thus the double standard. The dolphin and minke whale harvests in Japan and the Faraeo Islands are done by traditional locals also yet you folks attack them.

This remark is in violation of our commenting policy and has been removed.

Once a generation has died off, the “culture’ is just a hand me down. Times change, people change, circumstances change.

Trying to copy your ancestors way of life, when it doesn’t apply to the modern world, or have any meaning at all except “horror show’, is a recipe for mental instability.

Some cultures have died off over time, such as the culture of cannibalism.

Most of us here would consider that a good thing.

What about you romika 3?

You folks understand what I am saying regarding the transmission of cultural hertiage, but refuse to acknowlege it this your shallow responses.

Romika3…are you another member of the Canadian Sealers Club?

Chad,

you are missing my point completely…

Most people who hate Japan hate them for the gov’ts actions. Same reason most hate America, it’s what our gov’t does that makes them hate us. At least that’s how it works for me.

Chris

I believe it your writing that is at fault as is your use of fallacies. (comparing modern hunts with cannibalism if that’s not a straw man then nothing is)

But hunting, killing and eating humans has been made illegal every where I know of. Hunting, killing and eating whales is still legal in many places.

This is the biggest crap response yet from pro-whaling antagonists.

For people who actually research the history of whaling:

The “Save the Whales” movement was not the brain child of some random environmental organization looking for quick cash.

In fact, it was born from an era of social change in the late 60s and 70s when whales were introduced to the public through the media. The public grew to adore whales thanks to Marineland, fictional shows like “Flipper” and informative television like The “Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau”.

When people were “informed” about the fact that the world’s whaling industries were WIPING OUT whales on a global scale, “Save the Whales” was born.

The first anti-whaling action that physically interfered with whaling was in 1975. It was carried out by a handful of young Greenpeace activists including Robert Hunter and Paul Watson. They went after Russian whalers in the North Pacific.

“Save the Whales” and anti-whaling activism in general is NOT about food culture. It’s always been a negative reaction to the wholesale destruction of whales by the world’s whaling industries.

What we can all expect to see is more industry funded campaigning against environmental activism such as the pro-whaling antagonists constantly attacking groups like Sea Shepherd here.

The FACTS are that the world’s whaling industries systematically drove nearly every species of great whale to the brink of extinction. Political representation of these industries ignored scientific advice to regulate and later stop killing whales. Whaling nations have historically violated size limits, species protections, seasonal limits, sanctuary boundaries, trade restrictions and even facilitated pirate whaling all over the world (that’s front companies with foreign labor killing whales regardless of regulations without reporting the catches to “traditionally” smuggle the meat to Japanese markets).

These antagonists all FAIL to argue about the facts of this issue. Instead they spend their time spinning emotionally charged tales in order to erode confidence in specific activists. (ie: it’s a smear campaign)

FLOB?

That’s a new one for me… You’ll have to elaborate.