Japan to double whale catch

The Thursday, June 23, Christian Science Monitor has an update on Japanese whaling. The article is headed "Japan to double whale catch." (Page 06)

It opens:
"Tokyo says it's for science, but conservationists disagree.
Japan announced this week at the International Whaling Commission in the city of Ulsan, South Korea, that it will more than double its annual whale catch for scientific purposes in what critics say may turn the tide against decades of protecting the sea mammals.

"Activists have fiercely condemned the move, and antiwhaling Australia passed a nonbinding resolution Wednesday calling on Japan to halt the program, which is allowed under IWC rules.

"While votes on various measures at the week-long plenary have narrowly favored the antiwhaling camp, the IWC may be on the verge of moving away from being a conservation-minded organization back to being the whaling regulation body it started out as in 1946. Most resolutions have only been passed by a margin of three or four votes.

"More nations from Asia, Northern Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean are now saying that the 66-member group ought to be less concerned with protecting whales than with promoting more hands-on environmental management as some whale species have recovered."

"Japan plans to double its annual catch of minkes to 935 from 440 and add up to 50 larger fin and humpback whales to the list within a few years under its new scientific research program....
While the IWC voted Tuesday to keep the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling in place, the expansion of Japan's whale catch is a bitter blow to antiwhaling groups who argue the practice is barbarous.

Leah Garces, a campaign director for the London-based World Society for the Protection of Animals is quoted:
"There is no humane way to kill a whale at sea and all commercial and scientific whaling should cease on grounds of cruelty alone,."

But we read that "countries like Japan and Norway see the opposition to whaling as stemming from a combination of poor environmental management skills and cultural intolerance."

There is some encouraging news:
"Whalers in resource-poor nations lost a lucrative income when the moratorium took effect and while some hope to return to hunting the giant sea mammals, animal rights groups have recently been encouraged to see more fishermen in Asia and the Caribbean trade in their harpoons for dolphin and whale watching tour boats."

You can read the whole article on line at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0623/p06s02-woap.html

It presents a good opportunity for letters on various aspects of animal protection -- either in support of the whales or questioning some of those cultural practices Westerners find acceptable. The Christian Science Monitor takes letters at:
http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=CFF0C5E4


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