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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14132320

Despite continued international pressure and the acts of radical environmental groups Japan's whaling fleet will be shipping out again.

Frankly I wish Japan would just knock off the whaling. For one, if you've seen Star Trek IV you know why we want to keep whales around. Whales are cool and enjoy swimming with Vulcans. But mostly because the whole whaling thing in Japan is nothing but political theater to garner support for the LDP but looking as if they're "protecting traditional Japanese culture" from asshole Westerners who want to impose their values on Japan. Of course, the fact that only like seven villages in the whole of Japan ever did whaling and it was never more than a small scale thing has no bearing on the matter. "Anti-foreigners" is a song that never fails to pack the house in Japan so why would they stop just because good sense says so?

Not that a lack of sense is exclusive to the Japanese side of this.

Sea Shepherd activists have staged demonstrations outside the IWC meeting here - the organisation is barred from attending - and it is clear that it will send its fleet to the Southern Ocean again if Japan does return.

"Sea Shepherd will also return and will once again intercept and block their operations," the organisation's head Paul Watson wrote on his blog earlier this week.

"If they return, we will launch Operation Divine Wind, and our vessels the Bob Barker, the Steve Irwin, and the Brigitte Bardot will soon return to the remote and stormy seas of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to do what we do best - defend the whales!"

Bwhahaha! That guy couldn't have sounded more absurd if he'd posted "Kneel before Zod, whalers of Japan!" And I can't help but imagine they people on the Bob Barker shouting "The price is wrong, bitch!" as they try and ram a whaling boat or throw acid on its nets.

Honestly, on both sides there's so much absurdity it's amazing anyone is able to take either side seriously.

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You know what? I used to care. Then I found out how many Minke whales there are and how many Japan takes every year. And then I started wondering why they weren't out interfering with the Norwegian or Icelandic fleets, who take just about as many whales. And then I wondered, why whales? What is so special about what is, at bottom, a very large sea going cow?

You want to harass a marine fishery? Why not go after the tuna industry? Or the cod industry? Or the halibut fishery? Or the Pacific NW salmon industry? Or head to the Volga or the Caspian Sea and protest the caviar industry?

Don't remind me of those Icelandic fleets... =(

You've never sampled hrefnusteik?

(deleted comment)

The Dragon of the Komodo does not look very nice but they have spent a lot to save it. Same about the Tasmanian devil (but that one is being so looked after maybe because of the cartoon movie, I will give you that)...

If the Tasmanian Devil cannot manage to outwit a rabbit or a duck, then I think evolution has said all it needs to say about its survival.

OK now you've gone on record for being DQ'ed. Condolences.

I've been DQ'd before and it hasn't stopped me. I won't be intimidated!!

Warner Bros has done serious damage to the Devil's reputation. Real devils will fuck up your shit, let alone a rabbit and a duck...

Yeah, there are plenty of animals that aren't so cutesy looking that are protected heavily and get funding. Good point about the Komodos too.

I think the Komodo is cutesy but I may be a minority. =)

That is because goliath spiders need to be killed with fire.

There are groups that do actually.

Maybe, but I don't see them on the Discovery Channel cruising around Gloucester harbor in a zodiac.

That's too bad then, huh?

Too bad for the codfish. Too late for the codfish, too.

I'm sure.

Some animals are more marketable than others. That doesn't mean they're more important. Fortunately, science is on our side...I think...

What is possibly more marketable than codfish, the utterly ubiquitous and versatile fish that essentially fed large parts of the world for 500 years?

When you're trying to raise money for conservation, being tasty isn't a marketing plus :P

lol I was talking about being marketable to an audience when you are trying to garner support...whales are more interesting to the average joe.

The Norwegian and Icelandic fleets aren't whaling in a sanctuary.

The Japanese may as well be wearing a "kick me" sign.

Just wish Australia would man up and prosecute the Japanese for violating the sanctuary.

The Fin whale is endangered, however.

You do make a good point, whilst I don't think the attempts to reduce whaling were wrong, there probably should have been a bit more focus on cod and tuna.

The Fin whale is endangered in the Southern Ocean, not world wide.

I think the ban on hunting whales was necessary and proper. Blue, Sperm, Humpback and Right whales were teetering on the edge of extinction and are still balanced precariously. But focus on Japanese whaling, as opposed to other fisheries, is rank opportunism and donation seeking based on emotion and propaganda, not on science. Meanwhile European, Chinese and Japanese factory trawlers literally hoovered up the codfish with "environmentalists" hardly turning a hair.

They're hunting Fin whales in the Southern Ocean.

I actually don't object to sustainable whaling; what Japan and Norway is doing with Minkes isn't as bad as what's happening to other fish.