Iceland and Japan share the same Futon

[Mr.X]

In their never-ending, and often illegal quest to exterminate the whales Iceland and Japan get cozy by sharing the same futon. :shakehead


http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Icelandic-firm-to-sell-whale-meat/2006/11/07/1162661652467.html

 

[steve70638]

I was reading an article lately that Iceland is using whale meat for dog food because there is so little demand domestically for their "scientific research" program whale hunt.

 

[Kim]

I was reading an article lately that Iceland is using whale meat for dog food because there is so little demand domestically for their "scientific research" program whale hunt.

Are you sure it was Iceland? That sounds more like the situation in Japan where they sell their catch to help pay for the research boats.
As far as I know Iceland has just resumed commercial whaling......i.e. for profit...
It kinda stands to reason that they'll therefore sell stuff to anyone who wants it.
I guess they just see it as fishing and being an island without much on it they probably view it as a more important resource than others do who don't need that type of work.
At the end of the day if people don't want to eat the stuff - as they increasingly don't according to most research - then it's quite an expensive way to make dog-food. It's hard to see that lasting.

 

[victor]

I was reading an article lately that Iceland is using whale meat for dog food because there is so little demand domestically for their "scientific research" program whale hunt.

Japan, of course, deny this.
"Japanese scientists have reacted angrily to media reports that surplus whale meat is being sold as pet food."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4700418.stm

However it looks like a typical piece of justification for continuing a totally unnecessary harvest of whales.

Maybe some of our members in Japan could tell us what the price of whale meat was and is today in Japan.
I doubt you could sell it on the international market at anything like a commercial price to break even never mind make a profit.

It seems that even the Japenese people have no real interest in whale meat, they are trying to sell it to kids in the schools but the price is to high.
"The Wakayama education board is supplying whale meat to around 280 schools, to try to promote awareness of the region's whaling traditions.

Quote from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4106688.stm
"We've been practising whaling since the beginning of the 17th century," Tetsuji Sawada, a local education official told the BBC, "but the tradition is dying out."

To make the dish more appetising, the whale is being fried in breadcrumbs, or minced into burgers.

The board had to lobby the government to bring down the price to keep it within their budget. "

There is no justification for this practise but the Japanese cannot back down as they would lose face in the international community.

 

[Zingtea]

There is no justification for this practise but the Japanese cannot back down as they would lose face in the international community.

Aren't they losing more face by whaling?

 

[neilstewart]

There are some seriously High Horses around this thread I think. Read the BBC interview in full, virtually no-one in Japan eats whale. And talking of horses more people eat that, and where are they getting all this horse from, USA, 300,000 animals from Texas alone last year. Just think of poor "My little pony" and the abundance of pre-teen girls you could have in floods of tears with that little soundbite.

When someone posts references to proper scientific journal aticles evidencing their hypothesising I can start to take them seriously, please someone give us just one FACT not newspaper sesationalisation or pressure group propaganda.

I would sincerely like to know the scinetific consensus of fin whale population and what impact the removal of animals would be on the longterm viability of the population.

 

[Mr.X]

There are some seriously High Horses around this thread I think. Read the BBC interview in full, virtually no-one in Japan eats whale. And talking of horses more people eat that, and where are they getting all this horse from, USA, 300,000 animals from Texas alone last year. Just think of poor "My little pony" and the abundance of pre-teen girls you could have floods of tears with that little soundbite.

When someone posts references to proper scientific journal aticles evidencing their hypothesising I can start to take them seriously, please someone give us just one FACT not newspaper sesationalisation or pressure group propaganda.

I would sincerely like to know the scinetific consensus of fin whale population and what impact the removal of animals would be on the longterm viability of the population.

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/august6/whales-86.html

X

 

[neilstewart]

Exactly my point in a previous thread. Who was responsible for the 19th century whaling on a massive scale? There are still no hard facts here concerning viability of removing 50 whales from the current fin whale population all you have shown me is an article that says "there may have been 1.5 million humpbacks before commercial whaling of the 19th century, all very good and dramatic but what relevance does this have to today, none really, or is it perhaps your stand point the we need to get back to these population numbers before we could consider whaling to again be a viable industry? If so, please ask yourself who is most responsible for the massive decline and perhaps you will lobby your government to make reparations for the removal of this nomadic species from our oceans by your forefathers? Perhaps the USA will pay to give back to the world the whales that played a part in their industrial past before all the preaching about countries that have taken a fraction from the ocean in comparrison?

 

[neilstewart]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=293d08493a80626cfd5dffcbef8a1868

Here is something for you, It suggests that shipping in the mediterranean sea is responsible for the deaths of 47 fin whales in its small isolated popualtion. Do you also advocate that we stop all shipping in this area?

 

[neilstewart]

http://www.cresli.org/cresli/cetacean/finwhale.html

this article suggest a dramtic increase in fin whale population in the last 10 years.