Well this is a rather strange article, it boils down to..."worse things happen at sea".
There are more important things to sort out there for we shouldn't say anything about our views on Whaling and if you do, your a racist?

Now as the author should know, Japan is a signatory to the banning of commercial whaling. The only whales being killed by Japan is part of a scientific investigation. Now what would be the authors view on say Aussie scientist killing endanged frogs in order to do studies on them. Add to that that there is a none lethal method of collecting the same data. I think the author needs to have a rethink.

It’s a mistake to refer to Tim Flannery. Once he was hammering over-population’s effect on the environment; now he never mentions population because it is not PC, and because both major political parties are immigration junkies.

Nevertheless, although Tyrell Heathcote will not win friends with her manner of addressing her audience, I tend to agree with her on whales. My only real objection to Japanese whaling is the ridiculous claim that it is being done for scientific purposes. Bunkum! Japanese are very smart people, and it beggars belief that they wouldn’t have known all that is to be known about whales long ago. And, the amount of whale eaten in Japan is falling, particularly among younger people. If you speak to the average Japanese you will find that they believe it is a matter of honour for their government not to give in.

If Australia could have stopped Japanese whale hunting, it would have. So, those on the band-wagon of protest are wasting their time.

My objections to whaling are the brutal way the whales are killed, that it is not necessary for scientific research and there is no real demand for whale meat in Japan. There are many other cruelties in the harvesting of wild animals and in commercial animal husbandry, but at least they are producing something for which there is a demand. Japan's determination to continue whaling for no reason other than saving face is hypocritical beyond belief.

So when did Japan start this so called cultural tradition of
harvesting whales in the Southern Ocean?

More then likely they nearly wiped out any whales close to Japan,
so now need to move into Australian territory to hunt.

Its not as if the Japanese are unable to afford to buy food, its
purely an ego trip that they are on right now, when it comes to
whales.

Whale watching is big business in Australia, including Japanese
tourists who want to see them in their natural habitat.
Its far larger as an industry then whaling hunting.

The Japanese claim that whales are "stealing fish" that humans
could eat. Perhaps they need to rethink that one.

As the Japanese clearly have no cultural tradition of hunting
whales in the Southern ocean, what are they doing stealing our
whales?

So because many species were imported into Australia in more ignorant times and damage soil, it's OK to kill whales that support a whole tourist industry ?

Comparing over fishing is hardly comparing apples with apples. Sure it is wrong, but fish and cattle and other live stock provide food that is necessary while whale meat is a substitute and not traditional, It is also only replaceable over a considerable period.

Perhaps we should kill elephant, lion and tigers, even koalas for their fur. That's just as traditional as harvesting whales.

As I have said many times in these columns, we should reduce the human population over time and a lot of these problems would disappear over night.

Tyrell
You make some fair points.
However your arguments don’t address your topic i.e. the cultural hypocrisy.
Rather you argued your case on sustainability and profit (not the same issue).

The Japanese eatcloven hooved meat meat and other fish so the cultural aspects are not excusive rendering your argument a nul.

About the krill depletion the biggest ships and therefore biggest perpetrators are in fact the Japanese and other Asians, Followed by the Sth Americans.

Flannery isn’t the only one just one of the most popular. I don’t want to spoil your research but I can think of at least 6.

The whaling ban is an international one. There are no such bans on tuna or orange roughies but there are catch limits/ excluded zones etc. which most professionals obey.
Murray cod sales today are from aquaculture. Size catch numbers seasons are enforced for amateur anglers in the wild.

I think the issue with many people isn’t so much the cultural aspects but:
• The duplicity of their “whale research”.
• Their bogus “scientific” methods. A recent scientific article search revealed 2 papers published in proper peer reviewed scientific publications since the ban and about 20 that weren’t accepted due to their trivial nature and lack of scientific value. The CSIRO that doesn’t kill and in the same time put has publish close to 20 high class papers.
• In reality the Japanese diet has gone more international. A program on that issue a few weeks back.
• Most people rightly Japan’s unwillingness to accept a legitimate ban as thumbing their noses at the rest of the world. A bit like the Canadian of some extremists’ ‘culture of clubbing baby seals to death’. Unsupportable in today’s world.
Might I suggest next time more factual research less emotion. The issues about sustainability is valid and one that needs looking at although some on this site deny AWG and want to maintain the same broken capitalist system.