Hunting

No one gains from whaling. The International Whaling Commission was set upon 1946 to promote and maintain whale fishery stocks and is now the main protector of whales worldwide. However it its role is being threatened by the amount of money that the Japanese fisheries are using to buy votes in the IWC to reintroduce commercial whaling. While this cannot be definitively proven, when the IWC passed the pro-whaling St Kitts Declaration two thirds of the countries voting for it had received financial aid from Japan. This is derived from the Ministry of Fisheries which has a $50 million US budget every year specifically to promote commercial whaling. While we can’t criticise developing countries for accepting money for things that don’t directly concern them, in 2008 commercial whaling is closer than ever to becoming a reality again. It is a situation without any benefit – the research is a scam which has even suggested that whales can live forever and the argument that whale meat is demanded in Japan is a sham, as only 5%of the population eat it regularly and 69% directly oppose it. It’s time for the rest of the world to make a stand and protect these endangered species.