Agree one hundred per cent. I would add that hysterical ideology and attitudes affect both sides of this debate.

Conservation arguments for banning whale hunting no longer hold up because whale numbers for hunted species are managing to increase healthily in the face of very modest levels of whaling.

Whaling for "scientific" purposes is only a pretext. All the Japs want is to run a modest commercial harvest. They have strong traditions of whale-meat consumption and don't want to be dictated to.

Consumption of whale meat is destined to die a natural death anyway because it is well documented that whale meat contains dangerous levels of mercury. Even with the existing limited catch, Japanese whalers have difficulty selling what they catch.

Whales, elephants, rhinos, is there no limit on which animals we exterminate for the most basic reasons, the mighty dollar and its acquisition by the most base means?

While one is speaking as an experienced shooter/hunter whose considerable skill was reserved for ferals and others breeding up into plague proportions, and as a consequence unless humanely culled would see vast numbers literally starve to death.

Even so there is simply no cogent case for whale hunting, we have superior oil in the desert jojo plant and the meat is vastly inferior to beef.

I can think of nothing worse than to see a female indiscriminately killed leaving her calf to starve.

There is simply no cogent case for barbaric whaling. Why even in the cold north, animal protein sources can be farmed undercover.

If these animals were in plague proportions, maybe?

But like the American buffalo and baby seals, routinely slaughtered for things not related to food per se. But thoroughly outdated custom or so called trophies.

When I killed, David, it was to cull over population or eliminate ferals and wherever possible, with a single clean head shot.

I always had a use for the carcass, food for the table or the kennel.

There's no pleasure in killing and no understanding the dubious mentality of those who kill for sport/thrill/pleasure. The only fish I throw back, are too rank for the table or undersize.

I think we could replace whale meat in all the countries that still hunt these animals with our locally produced wagyu.

A win/win all round!

I ask you, who in Japan or anywhere, prefers aged whale meat to fresh wagyu or venison? The majority prefer hamburgers!

To reiterate there is no cogent case on any grounds for this barbaric custom and indeed the other favorite, dolphin massacres!
Rhrosty.

Opposition to whaling is just another Left, feel-good, useless pieces of grandstanding - as the Japanese continue to show us. The anti-whalers are just making fools of themselves, as are gormless Australian politicians unable to do the real jobs we pay them to do.

In terms of damage done to our only life support system, this planet, we are much better off culling humans rather than Whales.

Bren, you need to get your facts right the Japanese do not have a long tradition of eating Whale. They started eating Whale because their fish stocks were very depleted.
The Japanese have shown over and over that they are unable to follow sustainable fishing practices.Take a look how they cheat in the Tuna industry.

ttBn more mindless posting from the car park attendant. Conservation of animals is actual a invention of conservatives,and now pushed by both sides. But then you never do let facts get in the way of your posts.

To the Author who is clearly just taking his ideological approach to this and hasn't actually thought about it to hard.

David how do we determine what a sustainable catch is?
How do we divide that up?
Has David reviewed how well Japan adheres to the Tuna wild catch limits to determine their likely behavior in any sustainable Whale industry?

I personally have not got an issue with any taking any wild animals for food or other purposes. As long as it is done in a sustainable manner and the animal is killed humanly.

Its the killing of whales that I have my biggest opposition. Current practices are cruel in in human.

lastly Whale isn't actually that popular in Japan and if the government stopped funding the industry it would most likely cease altogether.

Surely David should be more interested in Japans closed markets then their right to harvest whales in the southern ocean. After all haven't he been elected by the good people of NSW to represent their interests in the Australian federal parliament?

The fact that Whaling has been part of a culture does not make it right or good.
Cannibalism and human sacrifices were also part of some cultures.