Japan Fleet Kills 333 Whales in Antarctic Hunt

[jpak]

Source: Discovery.com

Japanese whalers returned to port Thursday after an Antarctic hunt that killed more than 300 of the mammals, the government said.

The fleet had set sail for the Southern Ocean in December, with plans to slaughter 333 minke whales, despite a worldwide moratorium and opposition led by Australia and New Zealand.

Japan’s Fisheries Agency announced Thursday that the target number of “scientific research” kills had been achieved.

The 2015/16 season came after a one-year hiatus prompted by a ruling by the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ), which said the annual hunt was a commercial venture masquerading as science.

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Read more: http://news.discovery.com/animals/whales-dolphins/japan-fleet-kills-333-whales-in-antarctic-hunt-160324.htm

[onehandle]

1. Well, they are a greater threat than ISIS.

And the Japanese are now claiming that they can have nuclear weapons, despite treaty.

Nuke the whales. Drop the big one on their tails.

Sheesh!

[Omaha Steve]

2. NUKE the fleet

Why does science research end up on a plate?

K&R for exposure.

OS

[mtasselin]

3. dirty bastards

Dirty bastards there is one reason that this is still going on in the 21st century, dirty rotten bastards

[restorefreedom]

4. fucking bastards.

anyone who can donate or can buy gear to help the cause, sea shepherd is doing great work fighting these killers


http://www.seashepherd.org

[elljay]

17. ^THAT^

I'm a monthly contributor and I'd urge anyone who can afford to do so to donate what they can. It is a fantastic organization!

[restorefreedom]

23. yes, they are an excellent organization!

and with young leadership like peter hammarstedt,they have no where to go but up

go sea shepherd!

[MBS]

5. an outrage.

There is no scientific justification for collecting 300 minke whales a year, including pregnant females, for "research". This is not research; this is slaughter. And there is no non-scientific reason for the slaughter, either.

[restorefreedom]

24. there is definitely a reason for the slaughter

fucking obscene GREED. its what makes the world go round, right?


they are selling the meat for profit and trying to disguise it as science.

pure evil.

i did not know about the pregnant females.

makes me despise the fucking bastards all the more

[MBS]

40. I wonder how much profit that they can make out of whale meat.

I keep reading that few Japanese will even eat it.
And I never hear the word "delicacy" associated with it.
So what is the bloody point?


There was maybe a kind of sense to this, I am told, a long time ago, during and just after WWII, when one could argue that Japan was in desperate need of protein and land-animal protein or "regular" fish protein was not available . But the starvation argument (if it were ever true) has not made sense for at least 70 years.

Yeah, the pregnant females were the last straw for me, too. The article I read says that up to 90% of the females (in turn about half of the "catch&quot were pregnant.
Just absolutely disgusting.

[restorefreedom]

44. i heard they were donating it to the school lunch program

but there are issues with mercury. plus most people hate it. i wonder who is funding this corrupt operation. it cant be making much profit anymore.

[MBS]

47. I remember hearing a lecture

back in (eek, could it be this long ago) the mid-70's, by an economist, who outlined, very clearly, how and why there was no economic benefit to Japanese whaling. If it wasn't profitable then (at least by that economist's calculations), it's got to be even more of a money sink now.

For sure, the mercury is a problem for both whale and dolphin meat, too (not to mention for the whales and dolphins themselves).

Yeah, you've got to wonder what the force is behind this insistent, irrational (and immoral) slaughter. Maybe it's somewhat similar to Republicans who insist on their right to deny climate change, to waste natural resources, and to pollute air, water, and land, even though, ultimately, they are bound to suffer the effects of their short-sighted policies as much as the people who oppose them. Some weird tic that drives certain kinds of people to insist on their "right" to be jerks, just because they can.

[elljay]

41. Pride

It is all about pride. Apparently, whale is not a very popular or even very traditional food. It was used mainly when other proteins were not available after WW2. However, Japan deeply resents other countries telling it what to do, and the whales and dolphins suffer as a result. It is similar to the Chinese attitude about shark fin soup. It supposedly doesn't taste very good and the destruction of the shark population would wreak havoc with fish populations worldwide, but it is a tradition so the hell with the world.

My culture had some ancient traditions like slavery, arranged marriages of young girls, and the death penalty for various offenses like disobeying one's parents. We moved on from this thousands of years ago. It is time for Japan and China to do the same.

[MBS]

42. I think you nailed it.

I think you're right - about the history and the prescription for moving on.

[Number9Dream]

6. I had hoped Australia and / or New Zealand would have stopped these poachers

Especially after they won in international court. Guess they were afraid of confrontation.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26830505

[Sunlei]

7. where are the “scientific research”protocols and RESULTS published? And what are the ingredients in

Japans growing pet food Industry products?

I noticed this, sure a lot of pet foods for Global export market but they lack ingredients list.

Is this where all the "scientific research" whales, dolphin 'culls' to banged up from speedboat round-ups to sell to the 'sea worlds' and toxic drug filled 'retired' race horses go?

http://global.rakuten.com/en/category/101213/

[PearliePoo2]

8. Their illegal whaling and their FUBAR aka Fukushima has put me over the edge.

I remember listening to their ambassador in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, right after the earthquake and the meltdown of their exploding, fucking nuke plants. He dismissed any outside scientific, technical help.
Said that Japan could take care of the situation. NOT! It is out of control, you asshole...STILL!
The clubbing of dolphins to death (turning the harbor red with blood) , illegally killing thousands whales (and always lying about it), the ongoing poisoning of the planet with radiation.
You arrogant, smug, self-entitled bastards. fuck you Japan.

[Gregorian]

9. When there is only one whale left, will they kill it?

Maybe we ought to leave two. Or maybe we ought to start thinking about how many humans can live on planet earth without killing it.

[Still In Wisconsin]

16. I have no doubt that the would/will kill the last whale. n/t

[Capt.Rocky300]

26. Yes, they would.....

I sat next a Japanese gentleman once on a flight to Japan from Seattle. He was V.P. of cargo sales for Northwest Airlines in Japan and spoke perfect English. We discussed this subject as well as Japanese fishing practices and consumer behavior. I asked him the same question and he said the people would eat something until it's gone and move on to some other species. Management of a resource is not the way they do things.

For years I crossed the Pacific at night and never ceased to be amazed by the size of the Japanese fishing fleet working the waters. It looked like a small city in the immense blackness with hundreds of boats using their big flood lights. Fascinating and distressing at the same time.

[packman]

10. "Scientific research" my ass

Seems the Japanese are always finding new ways to squeeze the truth out of a situation. Sink a few of those damn ships.

[chernabog]

11. Animals killed in the US per day:

Cattle: 82,657
Chickens: 23,744,279
Hogs: 292,810
Turkeys: 648,265

Just to name a few.

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/resources/research/stats_slaughter_totals.html?

[PatrickforO]

19. Missing the point...these are domestic animals that suffer through our

monstrous and inhumane 'industrial agriculture.' In other words they are born and raised with the intent they will be slaughtered.

Whales aren't. AND many are endangered.

Not apples and apples, chern.

[chernabog]

36. No I totally agree with you

Just pointing out that these are sentient beings as well. Are people outraged at all creatures being hurt and killed or just whales?

[snooper2]

21. we are ensuring that those creatures won't go extinct by breeding them, we can't breed whales

Fuck the whalers, may their ships be caught in a random tsunami some day

[chernabog]

37. If whales can survive in the wild

Then so can the other creatures.

[snooper2]

39. not cows, cows are slow and not very bright, they would die off

Of course we had one heifer that used to kick the shit out of me when I was young LOL

Won't work on a dingo or wolf

[Drahthaardogs]

45. You have obviously never lived on a ranch.

Cattle are far from dumb and are very capable of living in the wild.

[Orrex]

32. I for one have never killed more than 280,000 delicious hogs in a single day

And probably not more than 21M chickens, tops.

[Dr. Strange]

43. Oh come on.

You've probably killed three brazillian chickens on more than one occasion.

[vanlassie]

12. WHAT CAN WE BOYCOTT?

[PearliePoo2]

35. I do my own little personal boycott. For example:

I needed a bottle of soy or tamari sauce. I went to our local specialty, gourmet shop to purchase some.
The store had several choices I could make. I read every label carefully and rejected any that were from Japan.
I settled on an organic, brewed in USA brand that was also reasonably priced. I won't touch anything, if I can help it, that is from Japan. Especially food or beverages!
I don't trust them one fucking bit. Yeah, supposedly they have a limit on the amount of radiation allowed in their rice and other products.
Do you know what is done? They dilute the polluted produce, rice, etc. with batches of non-polluted product until the entirety is at what the government has deemed a safe, marketable level.
Dilution is the solution....well, horse shit!

[Duppers]

48. The largest ticket items we import from them: CARS.

I refuse to buy one of their vehicles.
Ever.

[SoapBox]

13. ...sickening.

Like they grow on trees.

Horrific.

[Still In Wisconsin]

14. Sink the fucking Japanese whaling fleet.

They have no right to do this. There is no defense.

[sulphurdunn]

15. Where have you gone Captain Nemo?

[PatrickforO]

18. Why? We really don't need to kill whales.

This is pretty sick.

[shenmue]

20. Go Sea Shepherd!

[SHRED]

22. If I were President

I'd turn a large portion of our military into an environmental protection patrol.
I'd sink those vessels.

[NWCorona]

25. I lived in Japan for a few years of and on and a lot of this meat goes to waste

I've had it here in Washington and it's not that appealing at all.

Sad

[AtomicKitten]

27. Boo. Hiss.

[Fast Walker 52]

30. x 333,000,000

So sick

[alcina]

28. I can only assume their "research"

involves empirically determining just how many whales they can slaughter before the international community finally stops them. It's obviously a longitudinal study.

[Calista241]

29. These fuckfaces need a case of super bad karma. n/t

[Fast Walker 52]

31. Indeed.

[ladjf]

33. A total disgrace. They are a wealthy Nation and don't even need the whale products. nt

[Judi Lynn]

34. Hateful, primitive national choice. n/t

[MariaThinks]

38. this is disgusting

[killbotfactory]

46. Why? Do they have a good purpose to out of their way to kill whales?

oh, right, "scientific research".