I don't think depression levels in Western society are really relevant to this discussion :P

Freediver is right, we have no right to tell the Japanese what they can or can not eat. But, the international community should be putting pressure on all countries to practice sustainable farming/harvesting/foresting/hunting (etc.). To me that means Japan (or any other country) should not be hunting/researching endangered whale species (or any other animal for that matter).

Am I right in saying that it would be easy to research the sustainability of whaling without killing them? Or has it already been proven to be sustainable/unsustainable?

A couple of questions:
What are the laws for fishing in international waters?
Where are the Japanese boats actually whaling? In international waters, or Australian Antarctic waters or elsewhere? The media never really gives these facts, they just get all hyped up in emotion.

It's to my understanding that the whaling being done is quite legal, and if that is the case there's not much that Australia can do about it, except complain through the IWC that it's unsustainable or inefficient/pointless research. It's also documented that the meat from the whales is put on to the market in Japan, which is part of the IWC treaty(/loophole) to ensure the hunted whales are not just thrown out once they have been researched. I'm not saying I like it.

In summary, I think the Japanese should be allowed to hunt whales in a legal sense, just within sustainable levels, and within waters where they are allowed to do so. Not under the false banner of research. But first, research must be done into the sustainability of whaling in all proposed whaling areas, and strict quotas should be adhered to and enforced. But that said, what good is one man's opinion :P

Sorry if that was a bit disjointed, and please feel free to inform me of anything I don't know. I don't pretend to know all there is to know about this subject.

"What are the laws for fishing in international waters

As far as I know, it is based on industry specific agreements. The IWC governs whaling. There are quotas for tuna catches among different countries. Whaling is the only one that has been managed well. Tuna is still overharvested and there are calls for a moratorium. Japan recently agreed to slash it's tuna quota as punishment for exceeding it.

"Where are the Japanese boats actually whaling? In international waters, or Australian Antarctic waters or elsewhere?

In international waters. Australia has claimed some of these waters as a whale sanctuary, but the claim is not recognised internationally.

"It's to my understanding that the whaling being done is quite legal, and if that is the case there's not much that Australia can do about it

There are some European countries that flout the IWC regulations and are technically whaling illegally. Japan is whaling legally. I think Europe harvests more whales than the Japanese.

Thankyou freediver, that clears a few things up for me :)

If that's the case then my summary holds.

Freediver. I guess your not acquainted with sarcasm? So I guess we just continue with the endless and pointless destruction of the earth. Hey! why not! We are ourselves, are only here for seventy or eighty years, so lets take it all! Sorry! more sarcasm just slipped out. But I do agree on one thing! Cultural imperialism is not the way to push a point. I wonder if understanding will work?

People will convince themselves of absolutely anything, as long as its in there favour.

I've seen sarcasm fail countless times online.

To-shay! funny old world. All the best!