***an resumes Antarctic whale hunt

[Canuck_Buck]

Commercial whaling is banned in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary -- a protected area of 50 million square kilometers (19 million square miles) surrounding the continent of Antarctica.

But ***an is permitted to around 1,000 whales a year under international law because its whaling is considered to be scientific in nature. Anti-whaling groups view the whale hunters as poachers.

***an has been hunting whales in the Antarctic and has a killing quota of almost 1,000 a year.

The whaling resumed after the Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd activist groups ended their disruptions. A Greenpeace spokesman said the group figures it helped save at least 100 whales during the 15 days it interfered with whaling operations.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/01/***an.whaling/index.html?iref=newssearch

[:@]1000 whales per year for scientific purposes.....what a crock...[8D]

Whale burgers maybe ?



The new dish coincides with ***an's failure to overturn a ban on commercial whale hunting at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

***an has said it will double the number of whales it kills for scientific research, a move that was opposed by an IWC vote on Wednesday.

The chain of restaurants, on the island of Hokkaido, said the burgers were selling well. A spokeswoman said the timing of the new dish, coinciding with the annual meeting of the IWC in South Korea, was accidental.

But she said she hoped it would give more young people a chance to try whale, which was once commonplace on the menu, but has declined in popularity over the years.

All of ***an's whale meat comes from the 700 or so it is allowed to kill every year for research purposes.

Conservationists condemn this cull as unnecessary and unscientific.

They have been outraged by ***an's announcement that it plans to double the number of whales it hunts, saying this will flood the ***anese market with more whale meat than its citizens are prepared to eat.

The burger chain in Hokkaido would probably disagree.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4122800.stm

[:@]so where's the other 300 whales go to ? the lab right?....[:@]

[kevin1]

I've been to ***an, and looked for whale meat at quite a few restaurants, I was unable to find any. I'd heard that it wasn't all that palatable to begin with, and was only in limited demand, mostly by seniors who ate it while growing up. What sort of "scientific research" they may or may not be doing is debateable, but probably unnecessary since the volume of info on cetacean biology is already extensive. There isn't much more they could learn by cutting up a Minke whale other than how much per kilo it will fetch at market. The ***anese are the single largest consumers of seafood worldwide, they could drive whales to extinction all by themselves if someone weren't constantly watching them.

[Canuck_Buck]

ORIGINAL: kevin1

I've been to ***an, and looked for whale meat at quite a few restaurants, I was unable to find any.

how long ago was that ?

There isn't much more they could learn by cutting up a Minke whale other than how much per kilo it will fetch at market. The ***anese are the single largest consumers of seafood worldwide, they could drive whales to extinction all by themselves if someone weren't constantly watching them.

it's not just the minke's kev., and they need not only to be watched but stopped.